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EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO.  ILLINOIS 


THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

NEW  TOBK 

THE  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON 

THE  MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 

TOKYO,  OSAKA,  KYOTO,  FUKUOKA,  8BNDAI 

THE  MISSION  BOOK  COMPANY 

SHANGHAI 


Education  for  Social 
Work 


By 
JESSE  FREDERICK  STEINER,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Social  Technology ^   Um-venity  of  North  Carolina 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


74  ^^'' 

Sg 


Copyright  1921  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  June  192 1 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago.  Illinois.  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

The  unusual  demand  for  social  workers  during  the  past  few 
years,  together  with  the  increasing  recognition  of  the  importance 
of  professional  standards  in  social  work,  has  directed  attention 
to  the  necessity  for  more  widely  extended  training  facilities,  that 
would  be  easily  accessible  to  workers  in  all  sections  of  the  country. 
The  need  for  workers  during  the  war  was  met  by  the  establish- 
ment of  emergency  training  courses  usually  under  the  auspices  of 
departments  of  sociology  in  colleges  and  universities.  In  a  number 
of  instances  these  brief  training  courses  have  developed  into  a  more 
extended  program  of  training  for  social  work,  which  is  gradually 
taking  its  place  as  a  permanent  feature  of  the  university  curriculum. 

This  new  development  in  the  field  of  training  for  social  work 
inevitably  called  into  question  the  adequacy  of  prevailing  standards 
and  methods  of  training  and  at  the  same  time  aroused  serious 
doubts  as  to  the  advisability  of  bringing  professional  training  under 
the  control  of  university  leadership.  The  fundamental  question 
at  issue  was  whether  professional  education  is  a  professional  or 
educational  matter.  Other  professions  have  faced  this  same  issue 
and  their  attitude  toward  it  has  largely  determined  their  degree 
of  success  in  attaining  adequate  standards  of  training.  It  is  to 
throw  light  on  this  problem  in  the  field  of  social  work  that  this 
study  was  undertaken.  And  however  inadequate  the  discussion 
may  be  from  other  points  of  view,  its  main  purpose  will  have  been 
achieved  if  it  helps  to  bring  about  a  growing  recognition  of  the 
scientific  basis  upon  which  the  structure  of  social  work  must  be 
built. 

This  study  was  undertaken  by  the  writer  during  his  period  of 
employment  by  the  American  Red  Cross  as  National  Director  of 
Educational  Service.     In  connection  with  his  duties  in  that  position 


fefli 


vi  PREFACE 

unusual  opportunities  were  presented  for  studying  at  first  hand 
the  work  of  the  different  training  schools,  as  well  as  the  varied 
nature  of  the  positions  the  trained  social  worker  would  be  called 
upon  to  fill.  Acknowledgment  is  here  made  of  the  many  courtesies 
extended  and  help  given  to  the  writer  both  by  his  colleagues  in  the 
Red  Cross  and  by  the  leaders  in  training  for  social  work  in  the 
universities  and  professional  schools  throughout  the  country. 

J.  F.  Steiner 
Chapel  Hill,  North  Carolina 
April,  192 1 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    The  Nature  of  Social  Work i 

II.    How  Preparation  for  Social  Work  Has  Been  Secured       .  6 

III.  The  Proper  Basis  of  Education  for  Social  Work  ...  30 

IV.  Technical  Courses  of  Instruction 41 

V.    The  Case  Method  of  Instruction 52 

VI.    The  Place  of  Field  Work  in  the  Course  of  Study      .       .  59 

VII.    The  S0CLA.L-W0RK  Laboratory 71 

VIII.    The  Social-Work  Clinic 78 

IX.    Recent  Developments  in  Preparation  for  Rural  Social 

Work 86 

Index 97 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  NATURE  OF  SOCIAL  WORK 

The  term  social  work  which  has  come  to  be  the  accepted  designa- 
tion for  a  large  group  of  specialized  activities  in  the  field  of  social 
betterment  was  not  in  general  use  at  the  opening  of  the  present 
century.  Two  or  three  decades  ago  such  terms  as  philanthropy, 
charity,  correction,  outdoor  reUef,  care  of  dependents,  defectives, 
and  deHnquents,  were  commonly  employed  by  those  at  work  in 
these  fields.  This  is  at  once  evident  in  the  names  of  leading  organi- 
zations estabhshed  during  those  early  years — the  Charity  Organi- 
zation Society,  Association  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor, 
National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction.  When  Miss 
Mary  E.  Richmond,  in  1897,  made  her  plea  for  professional  training 
she  urged  the  establishment  of  a  "Training  School  in  Applied  Phil- 
anthropy." The  training  class  which  was  organized  in  New  York 
the  following  year  developed  later  into  the  New  York  School  of 
Philanthropy,  and  this  name  persisted  until  very  recently  when  it 
was  changed  to  the  New  York  School  of  Social  Work. 

This  early  terminology  is  significant,  for  it  indicates  clearly  the 
nature  of  the  field  from  which  modern  social  work  has  developed. 
The  social  workers  of  a  generation  ago  were  frankly  engaged  in  the 
work  of  charity  or  philanthropy.  Their  efforts  were  concentrated 
upon  the  disadvantaged  and  handicapped  and  represented  a  grow- 
ing attempt  to  understand  their  problems  and  solve  them  through 
the  application  of  scientific  methods.  Just  because  their  work  was 
permeated  with  the  scientific  spirit  it  was  inevitable  that  their 
attention  should  be  increasingly  directed  to  the  forces  that  were 
dragging  men  down  and  making  the  work  of  relief  such  a  difficult 
task. 


2  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

Thus  there  developed  very  naturally  a  keen  interest  in  what  is 
frequently  called  the  preventive  side  of  social  work.  Those  whose 
work  was  commonly  thought  of  as  being  in  the  field  of  relief  began 
to  interest  themselves  in  social  legislation  and  in  the  improvement  of 
social  and  industrial  conditions.  From  the  ranks  of  philanthropic 
workers  there  arose  those  who  took  up  the  fight  against  the  adverse 
conditions  of  life  instead  of  in  behalf  of  the  unfortunate  who  were 
disabled  by  those  conditions.  Investigations  of  the  standards  of 
living  and  housing  conditions,  social  surveys  of  various  kinds,  pro- 
motion of  recreational  activities,  organization  of  communities  for  the 
purposes  of  social  betterment,  arousing  public  sentiment  against 
the  evils  of  child  labor,  and  organized  efforts  to  give  the  general 
public  a  social  point  of  view — all  these  and  many  other  activities  of 
a  similar  nature  became  a  recognized  part  of  the  field  of  social  work. 

This  change  of  emphasis  in  social  work  from  remedial  meas- 
ures to  those  that  strike  at  the  root  of  social  problems  caused 
the  whole  field  under  consideration  to  lose  its  early  definiteness  of 
boundary  lines.  As  long  as  social  work  was  regarded  as  the 
adjustment  of  the  dependent  and  handicapped  to  their  environ- 
ment, its  activities  could  be  grouped  together  in  a  field  that 
was  peculiar  to  itself.  Just  as  soon,  however,  as  it  attempted  to 
accompUsh  its  purpose  by  bringing  about  modifications  of  the  en- 
vironment, it  allied  itself  with  forward  looking  movements  in  many 
lines  of  work.  In  this  sense,  social  work  may  be  regarded  as  almost 
identical  with  the  promotion  of  common  welfare  and  the  social 
worker  is  the  individual  of  any  occupation  or  profession  whose  life 
is  actuated  by  a  definite  social  purpose.  Devine's  Spirit  of  Social 
Work  is  dedicated 

to  social  workers,  that  is  to  say,  to  every  man  and  woman,  who,  in  any  relation 
of  life,  professional,  industrial,  political,  educational  or  domestic;  whether  on 
salary  or  as  a  volunteer;  whether  on  his  own  individual  account  or  as  part  of 
an  organized  movement,  is  working  consciously,  according  to  his  light  intelli- 
gently, and  according  to  his  strength  persistently,  for  the  promotion  of  the 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  3 

common  welfare — the  common  welfare  as  distinct  from  that  of  a  party  or  a 
class  or  a  sect  or  a  business  interest  or  a  particular  institution  or  a  family  or 
an  individual. 

It  is  at  once  evident  that  while  such  a  broad  conception  of  social 
work  may  be  logical,  it  leads  us  far  beyond  its  distinctively  tech- 
nical aspects.  An  analogy  may  be  found  in  education  which  has 
both  its  popular  and  its  professional  sides.  In  one  sense  a  large 
part  of  our  activities  may  be  looked  upon  as  educational,  but  never- 
theless it  is  well  understood  that  there  is  a  very  clearly  defined 
field  for  those  w^ho  have  to  do  with  formal  education.  Social  work, 
because  it  touches  life  in  so  many  intimate  ways  and  includes 
activities  that  are  commonplace  and  informal  in  nature,  must  have 
its  popular  side  that  can  be  participated  in  by  people  of  every  vo- 
cation. This  is  in  fact  the  purpose  of  that  part  of  social  work  which 
lays  emphasis  upon  the  spread  of  sociahzed  intelligence.  The 
more  intelligent  people  become  about  social  duties  and  problems, 
the  more  active  will  they  be  in  the  promotion  of  the  common  wel- 
fare. One  of  the  most  hopeful  signs  of  the  times  is  the  active 
interest  of  such  agencies  and  institutions  as  the  school,  the  church, 
chambers  of  commerce,  farmers'  organizations,  etc.,  in  social  pro- 
grams designed  to  bring  about  a  solution  of  social  problems. 

But,  however  legitimate  it  may  be  to  speak  of  social  work  in  this 
broad  sense  as  merging  into  many  different  fields,  there  is  without 
doubt  a  point  beyond  which  popular  effort  cannot  go  and  main- 
tain a  high  efficiency.  It  is  evident,  for  instance,  that  social  inves- 
tigation involves  processes  for  which  is  required  a  technique  of  its 
own.  It  is  even  more  clear  that  technical  equipment  is  needed  to 
deal  with  the  situations  that  arise  in  connection  with  the  care  of  the 
dependent  and  handicapped.  No  one  can  doubt  that  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  social  forces  of  communities  requires  the  sure  touch  of 
a  hand  trained  for  its  task.  These  and  other  similar  activities  in 
the  general  field  of  social  welfare  stand  out  in  a  well-defined  group, 
not  primarily  because  of  what  they  attempt  to  do,  but  because  they 


4  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

can  be  carried  on  successfully  only  by  those  who  possess  the  proper 
technical  training  and  experience.  The  social  worker  may  be  work- 
ing hand  in  hand  with  many  people  interested  in  the  same  general 
problems  but  he  is  distinguished  from  them  because  he  is  qualified 
through  special  training  to  accomphsh  well  certain  tasks  that  only 
incidentally  come  to  the  attention  of  those  in  other  fields.  Social 
work  defined  in  this  way  loses  something  of  the  indefiniteness  that 
comes  from  its  close  relation  to  efforts  to  improve  the  common 
welfare.  While  its  results  are  accomplished  through  the  aid  of 
many  allies,  it  has  its  distinctively  technical  aspects  which,  taken 
together,  form  a  group  of  highly  specialized  activities  that  may 
very  well  be  regarded  as  the  beginning  of  a  new  profession. 

But  the  confusion  in  regard  to  the  proper  limits  of  the  field  of 
social  work  has  not  resulted  entirely  from  its  far-reaching  ten- 
dencies. Complications  also  arise  from  the  domination  of  certain 
types  of  social  work  which  more  or  less  consciously  regard  themselves 
as  occupying  a  fundamental  position  in  the  field  of  social  welfare. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society  move- 
ment which  must  be  recognized  as  the  beginning  of  scientific  social 
work  in  this  country  and  which  has  maintained  its  place  of  leader- 
ship ever  since  its  establishment  more  than  a  generation  ago. 
Within  this  movement  has  been  developed  the  technique  of  family 
case-work  which  was  one  of  the  first  examples  of  the  application  of 
scientific  methods  to  social  work.  The  family  welfare  group  has 
long  been  prominent  in  state  and  national  conferences  of  social 
workers,  and  has  made  very  significant  contributions  to  the  litera- 
ture dealing  with  social  problems.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore, 
that  family  case-work  should  sometimes  be  used  as  synonymous 
with  social  work,  and  that  there  should  be  a  tendency  in  some 
quarters  to  judge  the  standing  of  social  workers  by  training  and 
skill  in  this  particular  field. 

The  natural  confusion  that  results  from  this  point  of  view  can  be 
easily  seen.    Social  work  is  frequently  identified  with  social  pathol- 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  5 

ogy  in  spite  of  the  efforts,  led  in  many  instances  by  family  case- 
workers themselves,  in  the  wider  fields  of  social  investigation  and 
community  work.  There  is  no  clear  recognition  that  social  work 
has  progressed  to  the  point  where  remedial  work  represents  only 
a  part  of  its  field.  Instead  of  placing  family  case- work  in  its » 
legitimate  position  as  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  special 
activities  of  social  work,  there  is  a  tendency  to  continue  to  regard  it 
as  the  center  from  which  all  phases  of  social  work  naturally  develop. 

A  scientific  interpretation  of  social  work,  upon  which  can  be 
based  an  adequate  plan  for  professional  education,  must  place  in  the 
right  perspective  the  activities  that  make  up  its  technical  field. 
Unquestionably  its  remedial  and  amehorative  activities  come  first 
in  importance.  The  problem  of  dealing  with  the  subnormal  and  \ 
handicapped  presses  upon  us  from  all  sides.  Many  generations  of 
social  neglect,  of  toleration  of  indecent  conditions  of  Hfe,  of  wilful 
choice  of  the  things  that  degrade,  have  produced  their  evil  results. 
The  proper  care  of  dependent  families,  of  orphaned  and  neglected 
children,  of  anti-social  and  subnormal  individuals,  requires  skill,  and 
no  social  worker,  whatever  his  specialized  form  of  work,  dare  be 
ignorant  of  the  technique  needed  in  this  field. 

On  the  other  hand  due  importance  must  be  given  to  methods  of 
social  investigation,  analysis  of  community  life,  construction  of 
community  programs,  the  technique  of  organized  recreation,  and 
problems  of  social  work  administration.  These  are  aspects  of  social 
work  that  are  now  demanding  many  skilled  leaders,  and  unfor- 
tunately there  is  no  general  agreement  as  to  the  technique  involved 
or  as  to  the  way  workers  in  these  fields  should  be  prepared.  No 
system  of  education  for  social  work  can  be  regarded  as  adequate 
until  the  methods  of  training  in  social  investigation  and  social 
organization  are  as  carefully  worked  out  as  is  the  technique  of 
instruction  for  the  remedial  side  of  social  work. 


CHAPTER  II 

HOW  PREPARATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  HAS 
BEEN  SECURED 

It  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  the  professional  schools 
of  law,  medicine,  teaching,  and  engineering  began  as  a  supplement 
to  the  apprenticeship  system  which  was  the  original  method  of 
preparation  for  technical  tasks.  The  difficulties  these  schools  ex- 
perienced in  establishing  themselves  in  competition  with  what  were 
regarded  as  more  practical  methods  of  training  can  be  understood 
without  detailed  reference  to  the  past,  for  in  some  of  these  fields, 
at  least,  the  apprenticeship  system  is  still  an  active  competitor  and 
exerts  a  restraining  influence  upon  efforts  to  raise  standards  of 
professional  education. 

A  study  of  the  methods  of  preparation  for  social  work  shows  no 
exception  to  this  experience  of  the  well-established  professions. 
The  only  difference  worthy  of  mention  is  that  social  work  is  a  more 
recent  development,  and  therefore  the  apprenticeship  system  is  still 
in  vogue  to  an  extent  that  would  hardly  be  permitted  today  in  other 
professions. 

The  apprentice  method  as  it  has  been  developed  in  the  social- 
work  field  has  been  simply  a  means  employed  by  organizations  to 
train  their  new  workers.  The  employee  in  training  sometimes  re- 
ceives formal  instruction  from  his  superior  through  assigned  read- 
ings and  conferences,  but  the  training  consists  chiefly  of  practical 
work  carried  on  under  supervision.  Such  an  apprenticeship  there- 
fore cannot  be  called  training  for  social  work  for  it  gives  the  worker 
no  well-rounded  view  of  the  whole  field  but  prepares  him  merely 
for  specific  tasks  within  a  single  organization. 

The  organization  that  conducts  the  training  often  safeguards 
its  own  interests  by  requiring  the  new  worker  to  remain  in  its  em- 
ploy for  a  stated  period  of  time.    In  1898  the  Boston  Associated 

6 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  7 

Charities  requested  its  agents  in  training  to  agree  in  advance  to 
remain  for  three  years  in  the  service  of  that  Society.  The  United 
Charities  of  Chicago  in  1915  demanded  a  two-year  period  of  service 
of  those  whom  it  undertook  to  train.  This  rule,  which  was  quite 
generally  followed,  makes  it  clear  that  the  well-estabhshed  social 
work  organizations  in  the  larger  cities  have  not  desired  to  accept 
responsibility  for  the  training  of  workers  not  in  their  employ.  In  a 
report  read  at  the  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction 
at  Topeka,  Kansas,  in  1900,  it  was  stated  that 

there  is  but  one  Society  which  is  making  a  special  effort  to  train  agents 
and  secretaries  for  positions  in  newly  organized  societies  and  so  spreading  the 
gospel  of  organized  charities  in  other  cities.  This  has  no  reference  to  the 
New  York  Society  which  is  conducting  an  excellent  six  weeks'  mid-summer 
course  for  those  who  wish  to  take  advanced  work. 

Eight  years  later  Mrs.  John  M.  Glenn  discussed  this  same 
subject  in  a  paper  read  at  the  National  Conference  of  Charities 
and  Correction  in  Richmond,  and  quoted  a  field  secretary  as  follows: 

I  do  not  know  whether  large  societies  feel  a  responsibility  toward  small 
societies  or  not.  The  engagement  of  a  field  secretary  for  Charities  and  the 
Commons  would  seem  to  be  an  indirect  evidence  that  they  do.  I  don't  think 
we  are  ready  to  train  workers  sent  us  from  other  cities,  expecting  them  to  go 
back  to  work  in  other  cities. 

An  apprenticeship  system  that  was  limited  to  the  large  organi- 
zations of  a  few  cities,  and  admitted  to  training  only  a  number 
sufl&cient  to  take  care  of  their  labor  turnover,  could  never  meet  the 
demand  for  trained  workers  in  a  line  of  work  that  was  constantly 
expanding.  The  first  public  evidence  of  recognition  of  this  fact  in 
this  country  was  a  paper  read  by  Miss  Anna  Dawes,  in  1893,  at 
the  International  Congress  of  Charities  in  Chicago.  In  this  paper, 
which  had  as  its  subject  "The  Need  of  Training  Schools  for  a  New 
Profession,"  Miss  Dawes  pointed  out  the  desperate  situation  in 
which  the  Charity  Organization  Society  found  itself  because  new 
societies  were  springing  up  more  rapidly  than  trained  workers  could 


8  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

be  supplied.  As  a  result  of  this  lack  of  skilled  leadership  an  undue 
proportion  of  these  organizations  were  either  failing  utterly  or  were 
carrying  on  their  work  in  a  feeble  and  inefficient  manner.  In  com- 
menting on  this  situation,  Miss  Dawes  said: 

I  am  convinced  that  it  is  not  so  much  lack  of  willing  individuals  as  entire 
lack  of  opportunity  for  training  that  is  the  real  trouble.  For  no  matter  how 
much  a  man  may  wish  to  go  into  this  work  there  is  no  place  where  he  can  learn 

its  duties What  is  needed,  it  seems  to  me,  is  some  course  of  study  where 

an  inteUigent  young  person  can  add  to  an  ordinary  education  such  branches 
as  may  be  necessary  for  this  purpose,  with  a  general  view  of  those  special 
studies  in  political  and  social  science  which  are  most  closely  connected  with 
the  problem  of  poverty,  and  where  both  he  and  his  associate  already  learned 
in  the  study  of  books  can  be  taught  what  is  now  the  alphabet  of  charitable 
science — some  knowledge  of  its  underlying  ideas,  its  tried  and  trusted  methods, 
and  some  acquaintance  with  the  various  devices  employed  for  the  upbuilding 
of  the  needy,  so  that  no  philanthropic  undertaking,  from  a  model  tenement 
house  to  a  kindergarten  or  a  sand  heap,  will  be  altogether  strange  to  his  mind. 
....  It  seems  to  me  that  the  time  has  come  when  either  through  a  course 
in  some  established  institution  or  in  an  institution  by  itself,  or  by  the  old- 
fashioned  method  never  yet  improved  upon  for  actual  development — the 
method  of  experimental  training  as  the  personal  assistant  of  some  skilled 
worker — it  ought  to  be  possible  for  those  who  would  take  up  this  work  to  find 
some  place  for  studying  it  as  a  profession ^ 

This  appeal  for  a  training  school  did  not  lead  to  immediate 
action.  However  clearly  a  few  leaders  might  see  the  need  of  trained 
workers,  there  was  very  little  recognition  of  this  need  on  the  part 
of  the  pubHc.  The  ninety-two  charity  organization  societies  in 
existence  at  that  time  represented  an  important  and  growing  move- 
ment, but  they  were  supported  by  a  limited  clientele,  and  their 
methods  were  not  fully  understood  or  approved.  Even  when  we 
add  to  this  Hst  of  charity  organization  societies  the  organizations 
that  were  springing  up  in  related  kinds  of  social  work,  the  field  was 
still  too  Hmited  in  scope  to  offer  many  inducements  to  trained 
workers.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  also  that  the  public  did  not 
regard  philanthropic  work  as  a  technical  activity  that  required 

1  Charities  Review,  III,  49-51. 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  g 

Special  skill  and  so  quite  readily  employed  as  workers  in  this  field 
those  who  lacked  proper  training  and  experience.  This  was  brought 
out  very  strikingly  by  Miss  Mary  E.  Richmond  in  an  address  made 
at  Philadelphia,  in  1897,  in  the  course  of  which  she  cited  the  fol- 
lowing incidents: 

"You  ask  me,"  wrote  a  clergyman,  "what  qualifications  Miss has 

for  the  position  of  agent  in  the  Charity  Organization  Society.  She  is  a  most 
estimable  lady  and  the  sole  support  of  a  widowed  mother.  It  would  be  a  real 
charity  to  give  her  the  place."  Another  applicant  for  the  same  position  when 
asked  whether  she  had  any  experience  in  charity  work,  replied  that  she  had 
had  a  good  deal — she  had  sold  tickets  for  church  fairs.  Though  those  par- 
ticular ladies  were  not  employed,  is  it  not  still  a  very  common  thing  to  find 
charity  agents  who  have  been  engaged  for  no  better  reason? — like  the  one  who 
was  employed  to  distribute  relief  because  he  had  failed  in  the  grocery  business.' 

The  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction,  which  had 
been  bringing  together  the  leading  social  workers  of  the  country  in 
annual  conference  since  1873,  gave  its  first  extended  consideration 
to  the  problem  of  professional  training  at  its  session  in  Toronto  in 
1897.    At  that  meeting  Miss  Richmond  read  a  paper  on  the  sub- 
ject ''The  Need  of  a  Training  School  in  Applied  Philanthropy,"  in 
which  she  stated  her  belief  that  professional  standards  could  not  be 
attained  until  a  training  school  had  been  provided.    With  admir-  i 
able  clearness  she  pointed  out  the  confusion  that  existed  because  I 
the  different  types  of  philanthropic  workers  were  not  famihar  with  j 
the  common  ground  of  knowledge  that  underHes  all  charitable  work.f 
She  says. 

If  an  agent  of  a  relief  society  has  occasion  to  confer  with  the  head  of  a 
foundling  asylum,  is  it  not  likely  that  the  ends  they  have  in  view,  that  the 
principles  underlying  their  work,  that  the  very  meanings  which  they  attach  to 
our  technical  terms,  will  prove  to  be  quite  at  variance?  What  an  incalculable 
gain  to  humanity  when  those  who  are  doctoring  social  diseases  in  many  depart- 
ments of  charitable  work  shall  have  found  a  common  ground  of  agreement  and 
be  forced  to  recognize  certain  established  principles  as  underlying  all  effective 
service!  Not  immediately,  of  course,  but  strongly  and  steadily  such  a  common 
ground  could  be  established,  I  believe,  by  a  training  school  for  our  professional 
workers. 

^Ibid.  (June,  1897),  p.  308. 


lo,  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

Miss  Richmond's  plan  for  the  school  did  not  go  into  details,  but 
included  recommendations  that  it  be  located  in  a  large  city  where 
students  could  have  direct  access  to  the  work  of  pubKc  and  private 
charitable  agencies,  that  its  afhhation  with  an  educational  institu- 
tion should  not  prevent  the  placing  of  emphasis  upon  practical  work 
rather  than  upon  academic  requirements,  and  that  a  considerable 
part  of  the  instruction  be  given  by  specialists  in  the  different  fields 
who  could  be  engaged  to  give  their  lectures  during  the  less  busy 
months  of  the  year. 

At  the  same  meeting  another  plan  was  brought  forward  by 
Miss  Frances  R.  Morse,  which  contemplated  the  development  of 
co-operative  normal- training  by  the  larger  charity  organization 
centers.  In  the  opinion  of  Miss  Morse,  satisfactory  training  could 
be  provided  by  setting  up  a  responsible  group  of  advisers  who 
would  assign  students  in  training  to  different  organizations  for 
definite  periods  and  exercise  general  supervision  over  the  students* 
instruction  so  as  to  make  sure  that  it  would  cover  a  wider  field 
than  that  of  a  single  agency.  It  was  in  fact  a  sort  of  centrally 
directed  apprenticeship  system  whereby  a  new  worker  would  be 
assigned  at  successive  periods  to  different  agencies,  thus  making  it 
possible  to  secure  a  well-rounded  experience. 

Miss  Morse's  plan  did  not  meet  with  general  favor  and  the  time 
did  not  seem  ripe  for  the  estabHshment  of  a  training  school.  The 
following  year,  however,  in  the  summer  of  1898,  the  New  York 
Charity  Organization  Society  took  the  first  steps  in  the  direction 
of  a  professional  school  by  holding  a  six  weeks'  training  course.  In 
a  lengthy  editorial  on  the  subject,  "A  Training  School  in  Charities 
and  Correction,"  the  Charities  Review  of  May,  1898,  gave  the  fol- 
lowing description  of  the  course  to  be  held  that  summer: 

The  main  feature  of  this  course  is  that  no  tiiition  is  charged,  but  members 
of  the  course  are  expected  to  enter  the  service  of  the  society  for  six  weeks. 
District  work,  care  of  one  or  more  families,  investigation  of  special  subjects 
with  one  major  and  one  minor  report  of  the  results  of  such  investigation  are 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  ii 

to  be  required.  There  will  be  daily  sessions  for  lectures  and  discussions.  An 
attractive  program  has  been  arranged  under  the  following  general  plan. 

During  the  first  week  the  subject  of  charity  organization  and  general 
philanthropic  work  will  be  considered  with  visits  to  the  offices  in  the  charities 
building,  industrial  agencies  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  and  other  private 
charitable  institutions.  The  second  week  will  be  devoted  to  the  care  of 
dependent  and  deUnquent  children  and  the  philanthropic  side  of  mission  enter- 
prise. In  the  third  week,  study  will  be  made  of  the  pubHc  charitable  insti- 
tutions with  addresses  from  the  several  superintendents  and  from  the  President 
of  the  Board  of  Charities  Commissioners.  Attention  will  be  given  to  the  work 
of  the  state  Charities  Aid  Association  and  the  state  Board  of  Charities.  The 
fourth  week  will  be  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  care  of  the  dependent  sick. 
Visits  will  be  made  to  various  hospitals,  dispensaries,  etc.  Consideration  will 
be  given  to  the  care  for  the  aged,  and  fresh  air  work.  The  fifth  week  will 
include  some  study  of  general  sanitary  improvements,  the  divisions  of  the 
health  departments  and  visits  to  the  improved  tenements  in  New  York  and 
Brooklyn.  The  first  part  of  the  sixth  week  will  be  given  to  the  care  of  delin- 
quents with  visits  to  the  workhouse  and  penitentiary;  the  second  half  to  a 
review  of  the  work  of  the  class,  with  further  study  into  the  functions  of  charity 
organization  societies  in  developing  the  several  branches  of  philanthropic  and 
reform  work  into  unity  and  precision. 

It  is  not  expected  that  a  thorough  training  will  be  imparted  in  this  period. 
No  diploma  or  degrees  are  to  be  conferred  and  no  promises  made  concerning 
future  employment  of  those  who  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  offered. 
As  an  experimental  contribution  toward  the  end  in  view,  the  results  of  the 
present  training  class  will  be  watched  with  interest. 

Dr.  Philip  W.  Ayres  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  training  class 
which  was  attended  by  twenty-seven  students  representing  fourteen 
colleges  and  universities  and.eleven  states.  According  to  the  report 
of  the  New  York  Charity  Organization  Society  for  1897-98,  this 
course  was  carried  on  along  the  lines  indicated  in  a  highly  satis- 
factory manner.    The  report  says  : 

The  inunediate  results  of  this  experimental  course  are  all  that  was  antici- 
pated. Permanent  positions  have  been  secured  by  some,  others  have  gained 
valuable  material  for  the  university  class  room,  while  still  others  have  entered 
upon  special  lines  of  inquiry  which  will  be  prosecuted  in  the  future.  It  is  hoped 
that  from  this  beginning  a  plan  of  professional  training  in  applied  philanthropy 


12  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

may  be  developed  which  will  raise  the  standards  of  qualifications  and  of  use- 
fulness throughout  the  entire  field  of  charitable  work. 

^  This  Summer  School  in  Philanthropic  Work,  as  it  was  called, 
filled  such  a  real  need  that  it  became  for  a  period  of  seven  years  a 
regular  feature  of  the  work  of  the  New  York  Charity  Organization 
Society.  Until  the  year  1903,  this  summer  course  represented  prac- 
tically the  only  organized  effort  to  provide  systematic  training  in 
the  philanthropic  field.  As  its  purpose  was  primarily  to  increase 
the  efficiency  of  active  workers,  its  attendance  was  largely  Hmited 
to  those  who  had  at  least  one  year's  experience  in  social  work.  New 
workers  were  supposed  to  serve  a  period  of  apprenticeship  with  a 
social  agency  before  becoming  eligible  to  register  for  the  course. 
The  desire  for  training  was  so  great  that  it  was  not  difficult  to  secure 
students  of  high  grade.  Two  hundred  and  fifteen  students  were 
enrolled  during  the  period  1898-1904,  an  average  of  thirty  for  each 
session,  which  was  as  large  a  class  as  their  limited  facihties  at  that 
time  made  practicable.  Among  those  who  took  this  six  weeks' 
course  are  many  well-known  teachers  and  specialists  in  the  social- 
work  field.  The  list  of  graduates  includes:  Dr.  U.  G.  Weatherly, 
professor  of  sociology.  University  of  Indiana;  C.  C.  Carstens,  gen- 
eral secretary,  Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty 
to  Children;  Kate  H.  Claghorn,  instructor  in  social  research.  New 
York  School  of  Social  Work;  Dr.  Carl  Kelsey,  professor  of  sociology, 
University  of  Pennsylvania;  Dr.  E.  W.  Capen,  professor  of  soci- 
ology, Hartford  Theological  Seminary;  Eugene  T.  Lies,  formerly 
general  superintendent.  United  Charities  of  Chicago;  W.  Frank 
Persons,  vice-chairman  in  charge  of  Domestic  Operations,  American 
Red  Cross;  'Alexander  M.  Wilson,  formerly  director,  CiviHan  Relief, 
Atlantic  Division,  American  Red  Cross;  Lillian  Brandt,  formerly 
statistician.  New  York  Charity  Organization  Society;  Mrs.  Alice 
Higgins  Lothrop,  formerly  director,  CiviUan  Relief,  New  England 
Division,  American  Red  Cross;  Paul  U.  Kellogg,  editor  of  Survey; 
Frances  A.  Keller,  well-known  writer  and  authority  on  unemploy- 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  13 

ment;  Porter  R.  Lee,  director,  New  York  School  of  Social  Work;  and 
Howard  S.  Braucher,  general  secretary  of  Community  Service, 
Incorporated. 

In  1903  the  training  program  of  the  New  York  Charity  Organi- 
zation Society  was  extended  to  include  a  six  months'  winter  session 
which  provided  weekly  lectures  at  a  late  afternoon  hour  so  that  the 
course  would  be  available  for  social  workers  employed  in  the  city. 
One  hundred  and  forty-seven  registered  for  this  course,  but  the 
attendance  was  irregular  on  account  of  the  heavy  work  of  the 
charitable  societies  caused  by  an  unusually  severe  winter. 

The  following  year  these  experimental  training  classes  developed 
into  the  New  York  School  of  Philanthropy  under  the  direction  of  the 
Committee  on  Philanthropic  Education  of  the  New  York  Charity 
Organization  Society.  The  first  director  of  the  school  was  Dr. 
Edward  T.  Devine,  who  served  in  this  capacity  in  connection  with 
his  duties  as  general  secretary  of  the  New  York  Charity  Organiza- 
tion Society.  A  full  year's  course  of  training  was  estabHshed  which 
was  planned  primarily  for  students  without  experience  in  social 
work.  The  first  year  fifty-seven  students  registered,  twelve  of 
whom  completed  the  year's  work  and  received  the  certificate  of 
the  school. 

In  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  1904,  a  similar  school  was  estab- 
lished in  Boston  under  the  title  "School  for  Social  Workers,  Main- 
tained by  Simmons  College  and  Harvard  University."  Its  first 
published  announcement  stated  that  it  was 

a  school  for  the  study  of  charity,  correction,  neighborhood  upUft,  and  kindred 
forms  of  social  service,  whether  under  private  management  or  public  adminis- 
tration. Its  purpose  is  to  give  opportunities  to  men  and  women  to  study  social 
problems  by  practical  methods,  particularly  to  those  who  would  become 
oflficials  of  institutions  and  agencies  or  would  prepare  themselves  for  service 
as  volunteers  in  this  field  of  work. 

The  school  opened  with  one  classroom  and  a  small  ofiice  in 
Hamilton  Place,  Boston,  with  an  enrolment  of  twenty-six  students. 


14  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

Dr.  Jeffrey  R.  Brackett,  the  President  of  the  Department  of 
Charities  and  Correction  of  Baltimore,  was  appointed  director 
and  remained  in  active  charge  of  the  school  for  a  period  of  sixteen 
years. 

This  demand  for  trained  social  workers  which  resulted  in  the 
establishment  of  these  schools  in  New  York  and  Boston  was  felt 
also  in  other  cities  of  the  country  where  social  work  was  being 
carried  on  aggressively.  In  Chicago  the  movement  to  secure 
trained  workers  was  led  by  Graham  Taylor  of  Chicago  Commons, 
who  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  development  of  the  Chicago 
Institute  of  Social  Science  which  was  established  in  1903  as  a  part 
of  the  Extension  Division  of  the  University  of  Chicago.  In  the 
January,  1904,  issue  of  The  Commons  Graham  Taylor  wrote  as 
follows  concerning  this  new  training  course : 

At  the  initiative  of  a  settlement  worker,  heartily  supported  by  the  repre- 
sentatives of  practically  all  the  private  and  public  charity  and  correctional 
institutions  of  the  city,  the  University  of  Chicago  will  furnish  the  great  facilities 
of  its  Extension  Department  for  the  establishment  of  training  centers  and 
correspondence  courses. 

Dr.  Taylor  was  appointed  director  of  the  Institute  which  held  its 
first  sessions  in  the  rooms  of  the  University  College  in  the  Fine  Arts 
Building  on  Michigan  Avenue.  The  students  were  enrolled  chiefly 
from  the  ranks  of  those  employed  by  the  Chicago  social  agencies 
and  institutions.  The  new  training  course  proved  so  successful 
that  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  which  was  one  of  the  most  active 
supporters  of  the  movement  to  develop  professional  training  for 
social  work,  enlarged  the  Institute  by  establishing  in  1907  a  depart- 
ment of  Research,  with  Julia  C.  Lathrop  and  Sophonisba  P.  Breck- 
inridge in  charge.  The  following  year  the  Trustees  of  Chicago 
Commons  Association,  which  had,  since  1906,  assumed  responsi- 
bility for  the  administrative  expenses  of  the  Institute,  transferred 
the  management  of  the  school  to  a  new  board  organized  for  that 
purpose.     Steps  were  immediately  taken  to  establish  the  school 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  15 

on  an  independent  basis  and  it  was  incorporated  in  1908  undeo  the 
name  of  the  Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy. /The 
object  of  the  school  as  stated  at  that  time  was  "to  promote  through 
instruction,  training,  investigation,  and  pubUcation,  the  efficiency 
of  civic,  philanthropic  and  social  work  and  the  improvement  of 
living  and  working  conditions."  Graham  Taylor  still  continued 
to  hold  his  place  of  leadership  in  the  school  and  had  among 
his  co-workers,  Sophonisba  P.  Breckenridge,  Edith  Abbott  and 
Allen  T.  Bums. 

Still  farther  west,  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  this  movement  to 
provide  formal  instruction  in  social  work  appeared  almost  con- 
temporaneously with  its  rise  in  the  eastern  cities.  The  interest  in 
social  work  training  in  St.  Louis  first  found  expression,  in  the 
winter  of  1901-2,  in  a  series  of  round-table  meetings  of  the  workers 
in  the  St.  Louis  Provident  Association  under  the  direction  of  the 
General  Manager,  W.  H.  McClain.  From  this  beginning  there 
developed  a  series  of  fortnightly  conferences  of  the  social  workers 
in  the  city,  followed  a  little  later  by  fortnightly  public  lectures 
given  by  persons  prominent  in  different  fields  of  social  work. 
Regular  classroom  work  was  not  begun  until/i907,  when  a  course 
was  held  in  the  Y.M.C.A.  building,  for  a  period  of  fifteen  weeks, 
at  which  twenty- three  regular  students  were  enrolled.  The  first 
full  year's  course  was  begun  in  the  autumn  of  1908.  While  the 
school  was  started  by  the  social  workers  in  the  city  in  order  to 
provide  training  facilities  for  themselves,  it  was  not  developed  on 
an  independent  basis.  Through  the  efforts  of  Professor  C.  A.  Ell- 
wood,  of  the  department  of  sociology  of  the  University  of  Missouri, 
and  Mr.  W.  H.  McClain,  manager  of  the  St.  Louis  Provident 
Association,  the  school  was  in  1906  closely  affiliated  with  the  Uni- 
versity of  Missouri.  In  accordance  with  the  plan  agreed  upon 
Dr.  Thomas  J.  Riley  of  the  department  of  sociology  in  the  uni- 
versity became  the  first  director  of  the  school,  thus  insuring  a  vital 
relationship  with  the  university  in  spite  of  the  latter's  location 


l6  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

at  a  considerable  distance  from  St.  Louis.  As  first  organized 
the  school  was  known  as  the  St.  Louis  School  of  Philanthropy. 
In  1909  its  name  was  changed  to  the  St.  Louis  School  of  Social 
Economy,  which  remained  its  title  until  1916  when  it  was  re- 
christened  the  Missouri  School  of  Social  Economy. 

The  success  of  the  schools  of  social  work  in  New  York  and 
Boston  stimulated  the  social  agencies  in  Philadelphia  to  provide  a 
training  course  in  that  city  for  the  training  of  their  own  workers. 
In  1908  a  special  training  class  was  held,  which  was  organized  the 
following  year  as  the  Philadelphia  Training  School  for  Social  Work. 
In  the  1910  report  of  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  Organizing 
Charity,  its  general  secretary,  Porter  R.  Lee,  made  the  following 
statement  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  this  school: 

In  many  ways  the  most  important  step  to  which  the  Society  has  lent  its 
influence  has  been  the  estabHshment  of  the  Philadelphia  Training  School  for 
Social  Work.  Believing  that  it  would  be  a  distinct  service  to  the  community 
to  offer  training  in  social  work  in  Philadelphia  to  Philadelphia  people  who 
might  thereby  be  encouraged  to  remain  in  the  city  for  their  permanent  work, 
the  Children's  Bureau  two  years  ago  established  a  course  of  lectures  on  the 
practical  problems  and  methods  of  social  work,  a  large  number  of  which  were 
given  by  experts  from  outside  the  city.  The  lack  of  opportunities  for  field 
work  in  connection  with  the  lectures  and  the  difficulty  of  holding  the  students 
to  definite  requirements  were  obstacles  to  the  success  of  the  plan  as  a  training 
school. 

This  course  has  now  been  expanded  into  a  definitely  organized  school  with 
a  curriculum  providing  for  both  class  work  and  field  work  and  for  definite 
tests  for  graduations.  This  has  been  made  possible  through  the  co-operation 
of  a  large  number  of  the  city's  agencies  for  social  work  of  which  this  Society 
is  one. 

The  enrolment  of  the  school  for  the  first  year  was  fifty-two. 
Mr.  W.  0.  Easton,  director  of  instruction  of  the  Philadelphia 
Y.M.C.A.,  had  personal  charge  of  the  administration  of  the  school 
in  the  capacity  of  executive  secretary,  during  the  first  few  years 
of  its  existence.  The  teaching  staff  was  composed  of  leading 
specialists  in  social  work  in  that  city.     In  1916  the  school  was 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  17 

incorporated  as  the  Pennsylvania  School  for  Social  Service,  and 
under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Bernard  J.  Newman,  and  later  of  Dr. 
Frank  D.  Watson,  developed  an  extensive  course  of  study  designed 
to  prepare  students  for  all  the  more  important  types  of  social 
work. 

This  movement  to  develop  training  centers  for  social  work 
made  its  first  ventures  in  the  South  in  1916  with  the  establishment 
of  the  Richmond  School  of  Social  Economy  at  Richmond,  Virginia, 
and  the  Texas  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy  at  Houston, 
Texas.  The  former  is  now  known  as  the  Richmond  School  of 
Social  Work  and  Public  Health  and  has  as  its  director.  Dr.  H.  H. 
Hibbs,  Jr.,  under  whose  leadership  the  school  was  organized.  The 
Texas  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy,  which  was  organized  by 
the  social  agencies  of  Houston  as  an  independent  school,  was  taken 
over  by  Rice  Institute  in  1918,  when  its  director,  Dr.  Stuart  A. 
Queen,  resigned  to  enter  the  military  service. 

These  seven  schools  fall  very  conveniently  into  one  group,  not 
merely  because  they  represent  similar  methods  of  instruction,  but 
because  they  are  to  a  large  extent  the  outcome  of  the  efforts  of 
social  workers  to  provide  training  facihties  and  have  been  built  up 
in  accordance  with  the  ideals  of  practical  workers  rather  than  with 
those  of  university  teachers.  The  schools  in  this  group  are  usually 
spoken  of  as  the  independent  schools,  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
departments  and  schools  of  social  work  that  have  been  established 
within  recent  years  by  colleges  and  universities.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  only  one  of  these  seven  schools  enjoys  the  distinction  of  having 
been  entirely  free  from  academic  connections  during  its  entire 
history. 

The  New  York  School  of  Social  Work  has  from  its  earUest  be- 
ginnings been  under  the  direction  of  the  Charity  Organization  So- 
ciety of  New  York  and  affiliated  with  Columbia  University.  In  a 
communication  of  John  S.  Kennedy  to  the  president  of  the  New 
York  Charity  Organization  Society  in  October,  1904,  notifying 


1 8  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

them  of  his  gift  to  that  organization  of  securities  yielding  an  annual 
income  of  $10,000  for  this  new  school,  he  said: 

I  have  also  considered  the  possible  desirability  of  establishing  the  School 
as  a  department  of  some  university,  but  have  decided  it  should  preferably  be 
connected  directly  with  the  practical  charity  work  of  the  city  in  analogy 
rather  to  training  schools  for  nurses  which  are  connected  with  hospitals,  than 
to  any  separate  university  department. 

He  desired,  however,  the  school  to  be  affihated  with  Columbia 
University  and  arranged  for  the  president  of  the  university  to  be  a 
member  of  the  committee  in  charge  of  the  school.  What  this 
affiliation  with  Columbia  involved  is  stated  in  the  Handbook  of  the 
New  York  School  of  Philanthropy  for  the  year  1905-6  as  follows: 

The  students  of  the  School  of  Philanthropy  are  admitted  to  any  course  in 
Columbia  for  which  they  may  be  qualified  without  charge  of  tuition  fees,  the 
selection  of  courses  being  subject  in  each  instance  to  the  approval  of  the 
Director  of  the  School  and  of  the  instructor  in  the  University  whose  course  is 
chosen.  Students  of  Columbia  University  are  given  reciprocal  privileges  in 
the  School  of  Philanthropy  and  the  work  of  the  School  is  accepted  by  the 
University  as  the  equivalent  of  one  minor  subject  for  an  advanced  degree. 

During  the  early  years  of  the  school's  existence  this  affiliation 
was  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  Dr.  Edward  T.  Devine  and  Dr. 
Samuel  M.  Lindsay,  the  first  directors  of  the  school,  were  also  mem- 
bers of  the  faculty  of  Columbia  University.  Within  the  past  two 
years  the  relation  of  the  school  to  the  university  has  been  modified 
by  a  discontinuance  of  the  plan  of  reciprocal  fee  privileges. 

The  School  for  Social  Workers  in  Boston  was  organized  in 
response  to  the  requests  of  the  social  workers  in  that  city,  but 
was  from  the  first  maintained  by  Simmons  College  and  Harvard 
University.  Later  the  connection  with  Harvard  was  discontinued 
and  at  present  this  school  is  conducted  as  a  regular  department  of 
Simmons  College. 

The  Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy  grew  out  of  the 
Chicago  Institute  of  Social  Science  which  was  conducted  under  the 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  19 

auspices  of  the  Extension  Department  of  the  University  of  Chicago. 
In  1908  the  school  became  an  independent  corporation  and  main- 
tained that  status  until  1920,  when  its  work  was  taken  over  by 
the  University  of  Chicago. 

The  Missouri  School  of  Social  Economy  was  affliated  with  the 
University  of  Missouri  at  the  time  of  its  first  organization.  In 
1909  this  aflaliation  was  transferred  to  Washington  University  at 
St.  Louis  and  the  school  was  conducted  as  one  of  the  University  de- 
partments until  1915,  when  the  University  severed  its  relationship 
with  the  school  because  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  financial  support 
of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation.  For  one  year  the  school  was  con- 
ducted as  an  independent  enterprise  and  then  was  taken  over  by 
the  University  of  Missouri  which  still  conducts  it  under  the  direc- 
tion of  its  Extension  Department. 

The  Pennsylvania  School  for  Social  Service  has  maintained  its 
independent  status  from  its  first  organization  until  the  present 
time.  The  Richmond  School  of  Social  Work  and  Public  Health  was 
established  independently,  but  in  1920  was  affiliated  with  William 
and  Mary  College^ 

While  all  but  one  of  these  schools  have  had  at  some  time  in 
their  history,  college  or  university  connections,  none  of  their  affilia- 
tions, prior  to  the  transfer  of  the  Chicago  School  to  the  University 
of  Chicago,  has  been  of  such  a  nature  that  the  university  has  had 
an  active  part  in  determining  the  policies  and  standards  of  the 
professional  school.  These  schools,  whatever  their  academic  affiha- 
tions,  have  been  largely  under  the  control  of  social  workers  and 
throughout  their  whole  development  have  laid  their  emphasis  upon 
l^^gractical  training  for  specific  kinds  of  social  work.j 

Another  characteristic  of  this  group  of  professional  schools  is  the 
striking  similarity  in  their  curricula  and  methods  of  instruction. 
The  terminology  used  in  the  announcement  of  courses  may  vary  in 
different  schools  but  there  is  little  variation  in  the  field  they 
attempt  to  cover.    During  the  first  years  of  the  New  York  School  of 


>/' 


20  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

Philanthropy,  its  courses  of  instruction  were  arranged  under  the  fol- 
lowing groups:  (1)  survey  of  the  field,  principles,  theories,  and 
methods  of  general  application;  (2)  the  state  in  relation  to  charity; 
(3)  racial  traits  in  the  population;  (4)  constructive  social  work;  (5) 
the  care  of  needy  families  in  their  homes;  (6)  child-helping  agencies; 
(7)  treatment  of  the  criminal.  In  the  announcement  of  the  Boston 
School  in  1905,  the  topics  included  in  the  course  of  studies  were  (1) 
aim  of  social  service;  (2)  improvement  of  general  conditions  of  liv- 
ing; (3)  neighborhood  improvement  in  city  and  country;  (4)  scope 
of  charity;  (5)  the  needy  family;  (6)  persons  out  of  their  own  fami- 
Hes;  (7)  the  criminal.  At  about  the  same  time  the  Chicago  school 
announced  courses  in  (1)  introduction  to  the  study  of  philanthropic 
and  social  work;  (2)  personal,  institutional,  and  public  effort  for 
dependents;  (3)  preoccup3dng  and  preventive  policy,  agencies,  and 
methods. 

The  course  of  study  during  those  early  years  was  centered  around 
the  problem  of  poverty  and  methods  of  work  with  the  handicapped 
and  dependent.  This  was  still  further  emphasized  by  the  require- 
ment of  field  work  which  was  carried  on  largely  under  the  direction 
of  agencies  doing  case-work  with  families.  This  emphasis,  which 
may  now  seem  somewhat  one-sided,  was  then  entirely  natural  and 
proper  because  the  students'  best  opportunities  for  employment 
were  in  the  case-work  field,  and  few  other  agencies  were  prepared 
to  give  field  work  training  of  any  value.  This  situation,  which 
influenced  the  early  development  of  these  schools,  still  persists, 
although  to  a  lesser  degree.  /We  are  not  surprised  therefore  to 
find  that  while  the  courses  of  study  have  been  widened  to  include 
social  investigation,  community  organization,  industrial  welfare, 
mental  hygiene,  etc.,  the  plan  of  field-work  training  has  experienced 
great  difficulty  in  keeping  pace  with  all  the  newer  developments 
in  the  field  of  social  work.  However  much  this  group  of  profes- 
sional schools  may  differ  as  to  particular  courses  they  offer,  they 
find  a  common  bond  of  agreement  in  their  emphasis  upon  their 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  21 

case-work  departments  and  in  their  insistence  that  case-work  must 
form  a  very  considerable  part  of  the  training  of  all  their  students, 
no  matter  in  which  field  they  intend  to  specialize. 

It  thus  appears  that  professional  training  for  social  work  owes 
its  origin  and  early  development  to  the  initiative  of  groups  of  social 
workers  rather  than  to  any  leadership  given  to  it  by  the  universities. 
Even  in  those  instances  where  university  affiliations  were  made, 
the  movement  was  led  by  the  social  workers  and  the  curriculum 
was  shaped  to  meet  the  needs  of  social  agencies  rather  than  made 
to  conform  to  the  usual  requirements  of  a  graduate  school.  It  is 
difficult  to  conceive  how  this  could  have  been  otherwise  when  we 
recall  that  at  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  the  first  summer 
course  in  New  York  for  philanthropic  workers,  sociology  had  made 
a  very  small  beginning  as  a  university  study,  and  that  for  the  next 
ten  or  fifteen  years  sociologists  were  occupied  so  largely  with  debates 
about  method,  that  their  work  seemed  very  remote  from  the 
problems  in  which  social  workers  were  interested. 

Nevertheless  the  sociologists  were  not  altogether  indifferent  to 
their  opportunities  in  the  practical  field  and  in  some  instances  took 
active  steps  to  correlate  their  work  with  that  of  social  agencies. 
One  of  the  earliest  efforts  of  this  kind  was  a  co-operative  plan  of 
study  worked  out  in  1894  between  the  University  of  Wisconsin 
and  the  Associated  Charities  of  Cincinnati.  As  a  result  of  a  series 
of  lectures  given  the  preceding  year  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin 
by  Dr.  P.  W.  Ayers,  secretary  of  the  Cincinnati  Associated  Chari- 
ties, and  another  series  given  at  Cincinnati  by  Dr.  Richard  T.  Ely, 
of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  on  "Sociahsm  and  Social  Reform," 
two  scholarships  in  the  University  of  Wisconsin  in  practical  soci- 
ology were  estabhshed  which  entitled  the  holders  to  spend  the 
summer  vacation  in  Cincinnati  in  practical  social  work  under  the 
direction  of  Dr.  Ayers.  These  two  scholarship  holders  were  joined 
the  first  summer  by  eight  other  college  students  interested  in  social 
science  and  formed  probably  the  first  group  of  college  students 


22  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

supplementing  their  university  studies  by  supervised  field  work  with 
social  agencies.  Mr.  C.  M.  Hubbard,  writing  in  the  Charities  Review 
of  December,  1894,  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  this  experi- 
ment demonstrated  the  value  to  universities  of  this  type  of  labora- 
tory work.  The  arrangement,  however,  proved  to  be  only  a 
temporary  one,  and  did  not  lead  at  that  time  to  the  establishment 
of  regular  courses  of  instruction  in  applied  sociology  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin. 

Another  effort  to  bring  about  a  vital  relation  between  the  study 
of  sociology  and  the  work  of  social  agencies  was  made  during  that 
same  year  (1894)  by  the  new  School  of  Sociology  established  in 
connection  with  the  Hartford  Theological  Seminary.  This  school 
planned  a  three-year  course  leading  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Sociology.  Specialists  from  the  field  of  social  work  were  brought 
in  as  lecturers  and  the  course  included  practical  field  work  with 
social  agencies. 

As  early  as  1893,  the  University  of  Chicago  announced  courses 
in  practical  sociology  to  be  given  by  Professor  C.  R.  Henderson, 
which,  if  properly  correlated  with  field  work,  would  have  afforded 
perhaps  the  best  opportunity  for  social  work  training  to  be  found 
at  that  time. 

One  of  the  first  significant  efforts  in  the  university  field  to  give 
the  courses  in  practical  sociology  a  vocational  trend  was  made  in 
1910  by  Dr.  J.  E.  Hagerty,  Professor  of  Economics  and  Sociology 
at  Ohio  State  University.  In  a  bulletin  issued  that  year  by  the 
university  announcing  courses  for  the  training  of  students  in  busi- 
ness administration  and  social  science,  the  following  statement  was 
made: 

The  Social  Science  group  of  courses  has  been  arranged  for  the  training  of 
professional  and  volunteer  social  workers.  The  state  of  Ohio  has  thousands 
of  paid  and  volunteer  social  workers,  most  of  whom  are  untrained  for  their 
work.  If  it  is  the  duty  of  the  state  university  to  train  its  students  for  efl&cient 
citizenship,  it  should  offer  facilities  for  the  training  of  professional  and  volun- 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  23 

teer  social  workers.  The  new  ideas  of  philanthropy,  if  put  in  practice,  would 
reduce  the  number  of  dependents  and  criminals,  and  make  more  eflScient  the 
state  and  county  institutions  and  the  private  charities. 

The  curriculum,  which  was  primarily  designed  for  the  last 
two  years  of  the  undergraduate  course,  included  such  subjects  as 
charities,  criminology,  accounting,  psychology,  labor  organization, 
labor  legislation,  races,  poverty  and  preventive  philanthropy, 
animal  psychology,  abnormal  psychology,  folk  psychology,  a 
seminar  in  social  research,  and  field  work  under  supervision  run- 
ning throughout  the  last  year.  The  university  had  already  been 
conducting  courses  in  applied  sociology  for  a  period  of  five  years 
and  was  well  equipped  to  give  the  required  instruction  in  this 
field. 

This  training  course  differed  from  the  usual  courses  offered  by 
the  independent  schools  of  social  work  in  that  it  was  planned  to 
fit  into  the  undergraduate  curriculum,  laid  a  great  deal  of  emphasis 
upon  knowledge  of  fundamental  subjects,  and  did  not  give  the 
customary  amount  of  time  to  field  work  experience.  The  demand 
for  training  of  this  kind  was  sufficient  to  justify  its  continuance, 
and  in  1916  social  service  training  became  a  regular  activity  of  the 
newly  organized  College  of  Conmierce  and  Journalism.  This  move- 
ment at  Ohio  State  University  was  in  a  measure  typical  of  what 
was  undertaken  in  a  few  other  colleges  and  universities,  but  in 
general  the  technical  courses  in  applied  sociology  offered  by  uni- 
versities prior  to  the  world-war  could  not  be  regarded  as  con- 
stituting much  more  than  an  excellent  background  for  professional 
study. 

The  need  of  active  university  participation  in  education  for 
social  work  was  set  forth  in  a  strildng  manner  by  Professor  Felix 
Frankfurter  of  the  Harvard  Law  School  at  the  National  Conference 
of  Charities  and  Correction  at  Baltimore  in  1915.  After  pointing 
out  the  successive  steps  in  the  development  of  medical  and  legal 
education  in  this  country,  Dr.  Frankfurter  said: 


24  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

I  submit  that  what  has  been  found  necessary  for  adequate  training  for 
those  social  activities  which  we  call  the  profession  of  law  and  medicine,  is 
needed  for  the  very  definite,  if  undefined,  profession  we  call  social  work.  I 
can  not  beheve  that  the  preliminary  training  of  a  lawyer,  most  of  his  Hfe  spent 
in  the  adjustment  of  controversies  between  individuals,  requires  less  of  a 
background,  less  of  an  understanding  of  what  has  gone  before  in  life,  less 
of  a  rigorous  critical  discipline,  than  is  needed  by  those  of  you  who  go  out  to 
pass  judgment  on  the  social  conditions  of  whole  communities;  by  those  of  you 
who  administer  laws  like  the  minimum-wage  laws,  and  the  other  social  legis- 
lation now  administered  in  great  numbers  by  social  workers.  Secondly,  I  can 
not  believe  that  a  training  fit  to  discipline  people  who  shall  guide  and  deal  with 
the  social  forces  of  the  day,  can  be  done  in  less  time  than  the  time  found 
necessary  for  the  training  of  lawyers.  Thirdly,  I  can  not  believe  that  the 
experience  of  medicine  anji  .law  as  to  the  quality  of  teachers  to  train  men  in 
those  professions,  applies  less  in  regard  to  teachers  of  social  work.  I  believe 
social  workers,  to  reach  the  professional  level,  must  be  guided  by  teachers  who 
give  their  whole  t^me  and  thought  to  it.  The  time  has  gone  by  when  the 
teaching  of  any  profession  can  be  entrusted  to  persons  who  from  their  exacting 
outside  work  of  practice  ortidministration,  give  ^o  teaching  tl^eir  tired  leavings. 

Finally,  and  at  the  center  of  it  all,  is  complete  ^s$5cfe,tion  with  a  university. 
The  schools  for  social  work  have  sprung  up,  of  course,  in  6ur  large  industrial 
cities.  Is  not  their  evolution  destmed  to  become  an  integral  part  of  the  uni- 
versities in  those  cities  to  which  they  are  now,  in  most  cases,  somewhat  platoni- 
cally  attached?  For  the  university  is  the  workshop  of  our  democracy.  If  it 
is  not  that,  it  has  no  excuse  for  being.  The  university  should  be  the  laboratory 
of  this  great  new  mass  of  scientific  and  social  facts,  and  the  co-ordinator  of  these 
facts  for  legislation,  for  administration,  for  courts,  for  pubHc  opmion.  The 
nineteenth  century  necessarily  was  a  period  of  specialization,  even  over- 
specialization.  Our  task  is  to  unify  and  correct  the  partial  facts  of  the  all  too 
scattered  social  sciences.  Mr.  Flexner  truly  pictured  the  character  of  social 
work  in  showing  its  close  interrelation  with  medicine  and  law,  and  sanitation, 
and  the  other  applied  social  sciences.  In  a  scattered  way  these  professional 
studies  are  now  pursued  by  the  university.  The  function  of  the  university, 
however,  is  to  accommodate  these  various  social  sciences,  to  unite  in  a  whole 
all  these  facts  of  life.  The  schools  for  social  work  must  be  intimate  parts  of 
the  university,  because  they  must  have  contact  with  the  other  branches  of  the 
university's  work.  I  suspect  that  by  a  careful  scheme  of  co-ordination  our 
great  universities  could  estabUsh  schools  of  applied  social  science  with  very 
little  addition  to  their  existing  plant  or  personnel.    These  schools  need  the 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  2$ 

university.  But  the  university  needs  the  school  for  social  work.  Just  as 
the  medical  school  can  not  do  its  job  well  without  a  connected  hospital,  so  the 
medical  school,  and  the  law  school,  and  other  branches  of  the  university,  need 
the  experience  and  the  experimentation  which  a  school  for  social  work  should 
produce.  These  various  aspects,  necessarily  specializations  of  one  common 
endeavor,  shotdd  be  parts  of  a  single  intellectual  community. 

At  the  time  when  this  statement  was  made,  only  a  few  of  the 
universities  were  at  all  conscious  of  the  important  service  they 
could  render  in  this  field  of  professional  education.  The  social 
workers  on  their  part  were  not  incHned  to  urge  universities  to 
develop  their  curricula  in  this  direction.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
belief  was  quite  generally  held  among  social  workers  that  training 
could  be  given  much  more  advantageously  in  an  independent  school 
unhampered  by  academic  traditions.  The  university  courses,  it 
was  felt,  would  give  an  inadequate  place  to  field  work  and  would 
turn  out  theorists  instead  of  persons  equipped  along  practical  lines. 

Without  doubt,  the  prevaiHng  type  of  instruction  in  university 
departments  of  sociology  gave  considerable  ground  for  the  attitude 
of  the  social  workers.  Graduate  students  in  sociology  preparing 
for  teaching  positions  were  seldom  required  to  supplement  their 
university  instruction  with  clinical  experience  in  the  social  work 
field.  Their  acquaintance  with  social  agencies  was  usually  hmited 
to  what  could  be  gained  through  observational  visits  or  assignment 
for  research  based  on  the  data  available  in  their  files.  It  was  not 
uncommon  for  sociologists  equipped  in  this  way  to  underestimate 
what  is  involved  in  learning  the  technique  of  social  work.  Their 
attitude  toward  the  social  agency  was  not  similar  to  that  of  the 
medical  instructor  toward  the  hospital  clinic.  They  were  not 
accustomed  to  regard  participation  in  the  work  of  a  social  agency 
as  a  valuable  means  of  acquiring  scientific  knowledge  of  social 
problems. 

To  the  extent  that  the  foregoing  justly  characterized  the  usual 
attitude  of  sociological  instructors,  it  is  clear  that  they  were  not 


26  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

fitted  for  leadership  in  training  for  social  work.  But  what  must 
not  be  overlooked  was  the  growing  tendency  in  all  the  social 
sciences  toward  active  participation  in  practical  affairs.  The 
psychologists  and  economists  as  well  as  the  sociologists  were  rapidly 
making  a  place  for  themselves  outside  their  customary  academic 
r61es. 

Undoubtedly  this  movement  which  had  been  gaining  momentum 
for  a  considerable  time  was  greatly  accelerated  during  the  world- 
war.  Men  in  academic  positions  suddenly  found  themselves 
called  upon  to  aid  in  organizing  and  conducting  the  network  of 
industrial  and  social  agencies  that  sprang  into  activity  because  of 
the  military  situation.  The  experience  gained  in  this  way  could  not 
fail  to  have  a  profound  effect  upon  their  attitude  toward  practical 
work. 

Moreover,  the  experience  of  the  universities  in  modifying  their 
courses  of  study  so  as  to  provide  practical  training  along  lines  of 
war  work  must  not  be  forgotten.  Of  special  significance  for  depart- 
ments of  sociology  were  the  emergency  training  courses  in  home 
service,  which  these  departments  were  asked  to  give  in  co-operation 
with  the  American  Red  Cross.  These  training  courses  were  held 
during  and  immediately  following  the  war  in  fifteen  universities 
where,  previously,  practical  training  for  social  work  had  not  been 
undertaken.  In  order  that  these  courses  might  be  as  nearly  as 
possible  uniform  in  quaHty  and  content,  the  Red  Cross  outlined 
the  subject-matter,  prescribed  the  standards  of  the  course,  supple- 
mented the  teaching  personnel  of  the  university  and  usually  as- 
sumed responsibility  for  the  field  work  of  the  students.  Through 
these  home  service  institutes  there  was  demonstrated  the  need  of 
training  faciHties  for  social  work  in  wide  sections  of  the  country 
where  schools  of  that  kind  had  not  existed.  By  actual  experience 
the  university  men  who  participated  in  these  courses  came  to  a 
proper  appreciation  of  the  requirements  in  this  field  of  professional 
education.    Without  doubt  the  efforts  of  the  Red  Cross  to  estabhsh 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  27 

these  training  courses  were  an  important  factor  in  stimulating  the 
interest  of  universities  in  education  for  social  work. 

At  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  Association  of  Training 
Schools  for  Professional  Social  Work  in  1919,  it  was  found  that  nine 
colleges  and  universities  were  doing  work  of  a  sufficiently  high  grade 
in  this  field  to  warrant  their  enrolment  as  members  of  this  Associa- 
tion. This  Kst  comprised  Bryn  Mawr  College,  Carnegie  Institute  of 
Technology,  Smith  College,  University  of  Chicago,  University  of 
Minnesota,  Ohio  State  University,  University  of  Pittsburgh,  Univer- 
sity of  Toronto,  and  Western  Reserve  University.  This  group  by 
no  means  includes  all  the  colleges  and  universities  now  actively  at 
work  in  this  field.  Other  institutions  that  are  offering  this  year  pro- 
fessional courses  in  social  work  are  the  following:  Berea  College, 
Kentucky,  University  of  CaHfornia,  Harvard  University,  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  University  of  Indiana,  University  of  North 
Carolina,  University  of  Oklahoma,  University  of  Oregon,  Uni- 
versity of  Washington,  McGill  University,  Tulane  University,  and 
University  of  Wisconsin.  In  addition  to  these,  brief  training 
courses  were  given  during  the  past  year  in  Cornell  University,  New 
Jersey  State  College  of  Agriculture,  University  of  West  Virginia, 
University  of  Virginia,  Converse  College,  University  of  Kentucky, 
University  of  Iowa,  University  of  Texas,  University  of  Colorado, 
Syracuse  University,  University  of  Nebraska,  University  of  Missouri, 
and  Iowa  State  College  of  Agriculture. 

While  the  experience  of  these  institutions  in  this  field  of  pro- 
fessional education  has  covered  a  very  brief  period,  there  are 
already  evident  certain  outstanding  tendencies  that  are  exercis- 
ing a  profound  influence  upon  methods  of  education  for  social 
work. 

In  the  first  place  their  curriculum  is  built  up  to  meet  the  needs 
of  college  students  and  graduates.  The  usual  university  standards 
of  admission  discourage  the  attendance  of  those  whose  qualifications 
are  based  on  practical  experience  rather  than  upon  attainments 


28  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

along  academic  lines.  Students  with  inadequate  academic  prepara- 
tion may  gain  admission  as  special  students  but  their  inability  to 
get  university  credit  tends  to  restrict  attendance  to  people  of  college 
grade.  It  is  reasonable  to  expect  that  the  university  schools  of 
social  work  will  follow  the  example  of  the  older  professional  schools 
in  the  universities  and  gradually  raise  the  entrance  requirements 
until  students  ineligible  to  work  for  a  degree  will  be  denied  ad- 
mission. 

A  second  characteristic  of  their  work  is  their  insistence  on  pre- 
requisite studies  in  the  social  sciences  as  a  basis  for  professional 
instruction.  This  of  course  does  not  represent  so  much  a  new 
departure  as  a  change  of  emphasis.  The  older  schools  of  social  work 
have  always  recognized  the  value  of  knowledge  of  the  social  sciences, 
but  with  few  exceptions  they  have  not  insisted  upon  a  thorough- 
going study  in  this  field  as  preliminary  to  a  professional  course. 
The  attitude  of  the  universities,  on  the  other  hand,  is  seen  in  their 
attempt  to  build  up  a  four-  or  five-year  course  in  which  students 
would,  from  the  beginning  of  their  undergraduate  work,  specialize 
in  the  social  sciences. 

Again  a  majority  of  the  university  schools  of  social  work  have 
given  chief  emphasis  to  courses  in  small  town  and  rural  community 
problems.  The  universities  have  been  stimulated  to  enter  this 
field  of  community  organization  largely  because  of  the  recent  wide- 
spread demand  on  the  part  of  the  Red  Cross  for  community  workers. 
The  location  also  of  many  of  these  university  schools  in  compara- 
tively small  towns  has  made  it  natural  for  them  to  study  the  social 
problems  nearest  at  hand.  At  present  courses  in  community 
studies,  community  organization,  recreation,  and  similar  courses 
dealing  with  preventive  and  constructive  rather  than  remedial  social 
work,  are  receiving  increasing  attention  in  most  of  the  universities' 
schools  of  social  work. 

In  order  to  provide  suitable  field  work  for  these  courses  dealing 
with  small  town  and  open  country  problems,  it  has  been  necessary 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  29 

to  depart  widely  from  the  usual  methods.  Instead  of  turning 
students  over  to  a  well-equipped  agency  for  practical  training,  it 
has  been  necessary  to  give  them  much  of  their  experience  in  com- 
munities where  social  work  had  not  been  well  organized.  Family 
case-work  has  not  been  neglected  but  in  adapting  its  methods  to 
small  towns  and  rural  situations,  the  university  schools  of  social 
work  have  faced  a  difficult  problem.  Of  equal  importance  with 
this  family  work  is  field  work  with  communities  and  with  groups 
within  these  communities.  This  involves  experience  in  com- 
munity studies,  development  of  community  programs,  community 
recreation,  and  the  building  up  of  a  public  interest  in  social  prob- 
lems. The  university  schools  of  social  work  located  in  small  towns 
have  had  to  concentrate  their  efforts  on  the  development  of  training 
facilities  in  unorganized  communities,  instead  of  relying  upon  social 
agencies  to  provide  practical  training  for  their  students. 

The  colleges  and  universities  therefore  have  not  only  entered 
the  field  of  education  for  social  work  but  are  already  beginning  to 
place  their  stamp  upon  standards  and  methods  of  instruction.  At 
least  twenty-one  colleges  and  universities  in  this  country  and  in 
Canada  have  definitely  undertaken  to  develop  schools  of  social 
work  as  a  regular  part  of  their  activities.  The  effect  of  this  in 
taking  the  control  of  instruction  in  social  work  away  from  the 
practical  workers  and  placing  it  in  the  hands  of  educational  special- 
ists is  already  being  seen. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  PROPER  BASIS  OF  EDUCATION  FOR 
SOCIAL  WORK 

The  history  of  professional  education  reveals  a  long  struggle  to 
determine  the  proper  basis  upon  which  technical  instruction  should 
build.  As  long  as  professional  standards  were  low  and  of  Uttle 
influence,  not  much  importance  was  attached  to  the  problem  of  the 
proper  relationship  of  general  to  professional  education.  During 
the  early  stages  of  the  development  of  professional  schools  of  law, 
education,  and  medicine,  the  student  entered  upon  his  professional 
studies  without  very  serious  consideration  of  his  previous  prepara- 
tion for  that  particular  field. 

Within  recent  years  marked  changes  have  occurred  in  the  stand- 
ards of  admission  to  professional  schools.  In  1904  there  were  only 
four  medical  schools  in  this  country  that  required  any  college  work 
for  admission;  in  1917  the  number  that  required  one  or, two  years 
of  such  work  had  increased  to  eighty-three,  which  was  92  per  cent 
of  the  total  nmnber  of  medical  schools.  This  same  tendency  to 
lay  greater  stress  upon  a  high  standard  of  general  education  char- 
acterizes also  the  schools  of  law,  education,  and  engineering.  The 
inadvisability  of  specialization  without  a  broad  foundation  is  now 
generally  recognized.  In  all  the  well-established  professions  it  is 
taken  for  granted  that  general  culture,  breadth  of  view,  and  a 
common  knowledge  of  fundamental  subjects  must  go  along  with 
technical  skill  and  knowledge,  if  high  professional  standing  is  to  be 
attained. 

But  even  more  significant  is  the  growing  insistence  upon  pre- 
professional  studies  as  a  prerequisite  to  vocational  courses.  A 
general  education  as  represented  by  a  high-school  or  college  course 
has  a  varying  content  and  therefore  cannot  be  regarded  as  pos- 
sessing uniform  value  as  a  preparation  for  the  professional  schools. 

30 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  31 

Each  profession  has  its  fundamental  sciences  upon  which  its  tech- 
nical instruction  must  be  based.  The  student  of  medicine  is  soon 
out  of  his  depth  unless  he  is  well  grounded  in  biology  and  chemistry 
and  is  famiHar  with  the  laboratory  technique  of  the  natural  sciences. 
The  engineering  student's  task  is  hopeless  without  an  adequate 
knowledge  of  mathematics  and  physics.  The  legal  student  should 
bring  to  his  professional  studies  a  mind  well-informed  along  hues 
of  political  and  economic  science.  The  instructor  in  a  school  of 
education  ought  to  be  able  to  take  for  granted  that  his  students  are 
famiHar  with  the  principles  of  psychology  and  sociology. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  there  is  as  yet  no  uniform  agreement  on  the 
part  of  these  professions  as  to  the  amount  and  quaHty  of  the  strictly 
preprofessional  studies  that  should  be  made  a  requirement  of  ad- 
mission to  their  professional  schools.  The  schools  of  medicine  and 
engineering  which  must  look  to  the  natural  sciences  as  a  basis  for 
their  work,  have,  as  might  be  expected,  taken  the  greatest  strides 
forward  in  their  insistence  upon  prerequisite  studies.  On  the  other 
hand  the  professions  that  find  their  basis  in  the  broad  field  of  the 
social  sciences  find  difficulty  in  setting  up  similar  standards  for 
prerequisites  in  that  field.  Social  science  from  its  very  nature 
cannot  be  as  exact  as  natural  science  and  seems  less  indispensable 
perhaps  because  it  is  so  intimately  connected  with  facts  and  prin- 
ciples that  are  more  or  less  matters  of  common  knowledge. 

But  in  spite  of  the  lack  of  uniform  insistence  by  all  the  pro- 
fessions on  prerequisite  studies  the  tendency  in  that  direction  is 
clear  and  its  correctness  unquestioned.  Professional  schools  can- 
not attain  a  high  standard  unless  they  can  assume  that  their 
students  are  properly  equipped  for  technical  instruction.  The  best 
medical  schools  recognize  this  by  their  encouragement  of  pre- 
medical  courses  designed  for  the  college  student  who  desires  a  college 
degree,  and  at  the  same  time  is  endeavoring  to  prepare  himself  for 
the  study  of  medicine.  While  it  may  be  a  long  time  before  pro- 
fessional schools  are  placed  on  a  thoroughgoing  graduate  basis,  the 


32  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

nature  of  their  task  and  the  increasing  demands  that  are  made  upon 
them  are  steadily  raising  their  standards  of  admission. 

In  the  newer  field  of  professional  education  for  social  work 
efforts  to  approximate  the  standards  set  up  by  the  best  professional 
schools  have  been  hampered  by  the  undeveloped  state  of  social 
work  itself  and  by  the  failure  of  the  pubHc  to  appreciate  the  value 
of  thoroughly  trained  workers.  Much  more  than  in  other  profes- 
sions the  apprenticeship  system  of  training  for  social  work  is  an 
active  competitor  with  the  professional  school.  Such  a  large  num- 
ber of  people  still  find  employment  in  social  work  without  the 
technical  equipment  that  a  professional  school  is  expected  to  furnish 
that  insistence  upon  high  standards  of  professional  education  does 
not  yet  seem  very  practicable.  For  this  reason  professional  schools 
of  social  work  have  usually  followed  the  custom  of  admitting  stu- 
dents to  their  courses  without  rigid  insistence  upon  academic 
requirements.  Even  though  high  standards  of  admission  may  seem- 
ingly be  set  up,  these  are  likely  to  be  offset  by  quaUfying  phrases 
or  alternatives  which  result  in  the  admission  of  any  student  who 
would  be  passed  upon  favorably  by  a  social  agency  seeking  an  ap- 
prentice worker. 

That  this  is  not  an  overstatement  seems  evident  from  the  pub- 
lished statements  of  the  entrance  requirements  of  the  professional 
schools  of  social  work.  The  New  York  School  of  Social  Work, 
which  stands  among  the  first  in  its  teaching  equipment  and  high 
standards  of  work,  states  that 

the  standard  of  instruction  is  that  of  a  graduate  school.  A  college  edu- 
cation, therefore,  or  equivalent  preparation  is  essential  in  order  to  do  the  work 
of  the  school  satisfactorily  and  profitably.  Familiarity  with  the  following 
subjects  is  recommended  as  a  foundation  for  the  course:  Economics,  Biology, 
History  (Industrial  and  Social),  Psychology  and  Political  Science. 

The  School  for  Social  Workers  in  Boston  requires  its  applicants 
to  have  had  either  a  college  education  or  a  high-school  education 
supplemented  by  sufficient  subsequent  experience.  Their  Bulletin 
states: 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  33 

As  a  desirable  preparation  for  the  school  and  social  work,  students  in  col- 
leges are  advised  to  study  the  following  subjects:  physiology  bearing  on 
hygiene,  psychology,  economics,  the  structure  of  society,  the  family,  state  and 
local  government,  one  laboratory  course  in  science. 

The  Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy  gave  in  its  last 
Bulletin  the  following  as  its  entrance  requirements: 

All  candidates  for  admission  must  have  a  general  education  equivalent  to 
that  of  a  good  secondary  school  and  in  addition,  either  (a)  must  have  taken  a 
considerable  part  of  a  college  or  imiversity  course,  or  (6)  must  have  shown 
abiUty  in  practical  work.  Satisfactory  evidence  of  good  health,  good  character, 
capacity  for  practical  work  and  earnestness  of  endeavor  must  be  presented. 

Students  who  are  graduates  of  colleges  and  universities  of  recognized 
standing  will  be  admitted  to  the  regular  second  year  courses  of  the  School  as 
candidates  for  the  diploma  of  the  School.  Such  students  must,  however,  show, 
during  the  first  quarter  of  the  School,  ability  to  do  work  of  a  high  grade. 
Otherwise  they  will  be  required  with  the  opening  of  the  second  quarter  to 
register  in  the  first  year  courses. 

The  first  year  course  is  ofifered  to  meet  the  need  of  a  large  group  of  persons 
who  wish  training  for  social  work,  but  who  have  not  had  the  advantage  of  the 
pre-professional  courses  now  offered  in  colleges  and  universities.  It  is  assumed 
that  those  who  complete  satisfactorily  this  introductory  course  wiU  remain  a 
second  year.  To  those  who  remain  and  complete  a  curriculum  composed  of 
second  year  courses  arranged  by  the  Registrar  and  approved  by  the  Dean,  a 
certificate  of  the  School  will  be  granted. 

Mature  persons  who  have  had  practical  experience  testing  in  some  measure 
their  fitness  for  social  work,  trained  nurses,  teachers,  church  workers,  and 
others  who  feel  that  it  is  too  late  for  them  now  to  undertake  college  or  univer- 
sity work,  will  be  admitted  to  this  introductory  course.  Younger  persons 
applying  for  admission  are  advised  to  prepare  themselves  for  the  second  year 
at  a  good  college  or  university.  1 

In  the  Bulletin  of  the  Pennsylvania  School  for  Social  Service  it  is 
stated  that 

candidates  for  admission  to  the  School  must  have  sufficient  inteUigence 
and  maturity  to  deal  with  social  problems.  They  must  be  able  to  express 
themselves  in  oral  and  written  English.  They  must  also  have  studied  sys- 
tematically some  of  those  branches  on  which  a  knowledge  of  society  is  based, 
such  as  history,  economics,  biology,  psychology  and  sociology.  Some  laboratory 
training  is  deemed  essential  to  insure  a  scientific  approach  to  social  problems. 


34  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

The  Missouri  School  of  Social  Economy  states  that  its  candi- 
dates for  admission  must  fulfill  one  of  the  following  requirements: 

(1)  The  completion  of  a  college  course.  (2)  Graduation  from  a  recognized 
secondary  school.  (3)  Definite  social  service  experience  in  which  they  have 
shown  special  aptitude.  Among  the  general  subjects  in  which  proficiency  is 
desirable  are  economics,  sociology,  psychology  and  English. 

The  Richmond  School  of  Social  Work  and  PubHc  Health  re- 
quires a  high-school  education  or  its  equivalent  for  admission  to  its 
courses. 

The  standards  of  admission  as  quoted  above  indicate  the  unwill- 
ingness of  these  schools  to  place  themselves  on  a  thoroughgoing 
graduate  basis.  Even  if  it  is  granted,  as  they  maintain,  that  their 
standard  of  instruction  is  that  of  a  graduate  school,  students  are 
admitted  to  their  courses  who  according  to  the  usual  tests  would 
not  be  eligible  for  graduate  work.  The  Pennsylvania  school  makes 
no  academic  requirements  that  can  be  definitely  measured  in  terms 
of  secondary  school  or  college  work.  The  Missouri  school  gives 
three  alternatives  arranged  in  descending  scale  from  the  point  of 
view  of  academic  standards. 

The  Chicago  school  opened  its  first-year  course  to  those  who 
have  a  general  education  equivalent  to  that  of  a  secondary  school, 
while  college  graduates  were  admitted  at  once  to  their  second-year 
courses.  The  Richmond  school  sets  up  a  similar  standard  with  the 
exception  that  the  way  is  left  open  for  mature  persons  of  practical 
experience  to  enter  the  second-year  course  along  with  college  gradu- 
ates. The  New  York  school  modifies  its  requirements  of  a  college 
education  with  the  statement  that  it  will  accept "  equivalent  prepa- 
ration" the  nature  of  which  is  not  defined.  The  Boston  school 
sets  up  practically  the  same  alternative  but  defines  its  ^'equiva- 
lent" to  mean  secondary  school  education  supplemented  by  prac- 
tical experience. 

When  these  entrance  requirements  are  subjected  to  another  test 
of  a  graduate  school,  namely,  insistence  upon  preprofessional  studies 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  35 

that  would  give  the  students  a  knowledge  of  the  sciences  related  to 
their  field  of  work,  an  equally  unsatisfactory  showing  is  made.  In 
general  the  value  of  preliminary  instruction  in  the  social  sciences  is 
recognized  but  such  instruction  is  not  made  an  absolute  require- 
ment. In  their  references  to  these  subjects  the  Bulletins  usually 
adopt  such  phrases  as  "famiharity  is  recommended"  or  a  "desir- 
able preparation,"  instead  of  a  recognizing  that  technical  instruction 
in  social  work  must  be  based  on  a  knowledge  of  the  social  sciences. 
Even  the  Pennsylvania  school,  which  requires  candidates  to  have 
*' studied  systematically  some  of  these  branches  on  which  a  knowl- 
edge of  society  is  based,"  does  not  enforce  this  rigidly,  for  it  offers  a 
course  called  "Scientific  Bases  of  Social  Work"  which  is  intended 
"to  provide  a  background  of  certain  fundamental  concepts  in  biol- 
ogy, psychology,  economics,  and  sociology  for  those  who  have  not 
had  these  subjects  in  college." 

The  Richmond  school  makes  no  reference  at  all  to  the  desir- 
ability of  knowledge  of  the  social  sciences.  It  is  worthy  of  mention 
that  the  New  York,  Boston,  and  Chicago  schools  do  not  include 
sociology  in  the  list  of  studies  mentioned  as  desirable  preparation 
for  their  training  courses. 

Lack  of  uniform  agreement  in  standards  of  admission  is  found 
also  in  the  departments  of  social  work  maintained  by  the  nine 
colleges  and  universities  that  have  membership  in  the  Association  of 
Training  Schools  for  Professional  Social  Work,  but  in  the  case  of  these 
institutions,  the  differences  are  of  another  nature.  These  colleges 
and  universities  may  be  conveniently  divided  into  two  groups,  each 
representing  a  distinct  point  of  view  in  its  methods  of  providing 
professional  training.  The  first  group  includes  the  institutions  that 
place  their  departments  of  social  work  on  a  graduate  basis  and 
limit  attendance  to  those  who  hold  a  bachelor's  degree.  Strong 
emphasis  is  placed  on  the  satisfactory  completion  of  undergraduate 
courses  in  the  social  sciences  and  in  most  cases  such  courses  are  an 
absolute  requirement  for  admission  to  the  technical  courses  of 


36  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

instruction.  This  group  includes  Bryn  Mawr  College,  Smith  Col- 
lege, Western  Reserve  University,  and  University  of  Toronto. 

In  the  second  group  are  those  institutions  that  place  their  chief 
emphasis  upon  a  four-year  undergraduate  course  of  instruction  in 
social  work  leading  to  a  Bachelor's  degree.  A  year  or  more  of 
graduate  work  is  also  provided  but  even  this,  it  is  urged,  should 
follow  the  specialized  undergraduate  course  instead  of  being  re- 
garded as  giving  adequate  professional  training  to  any  college 
graduate.  It  is  obvious  that  the  requirements  of  a  secondary-school 
education  for  admission  to  a  four-year  undergraduate  course  spe- 
cializing in  preparation  for  social  work  cannot  be  compared  with  a 
similar  requirement  for  admission  to  a  so-called  graduate  school  of 
social  work.  The  institutions  that  make  up  this  group  are  the 
University  of  Chicago,  University  of  Minnesota,  Ohio  State  Uni- 
versity, University  of  Pittsburgh,  and  the  Carnegie  Institute  of 
Technology. 

The  foregoing  analysis  of  the  present  actual  basis  of  education 
for  social  work  as  is  shown  by  the  standards  of  admission  of  pro- 
fessional schools  indicates  the  wide  divergence  of  opinion  among 
those  at  work  in  this  field.  It  reveals  on  the  one  hand  the  tendency 
of  the  independent  schools  to  distrust  the  value  of  college  courses 
in  the  social  sciences  and  to  make  concessions  to  candidates  for  ad- 
mission who  have  had  approved  kinds  of  practical  experience.  On 
the  other  hand  the  movement  in  the  universities  to  set  up  a  course 
of  instruction  that  would  begin  early  in  the  undergraduate  school 
and  cover  a  period  of  four  to  five  years,  has  grown  out  of  their 
feeling  that  the  social-work  student  needs  a  more  thorough  founda- 
tion in  the  social  sciences  than  is  usually  obtained  in  the  college 
course. 

In  the  field  of  education  for  social  work  we  find  therefore  not 
merely  varying  standards  of  admission  to  the  professional  schools 
but  important  differences  in  regard  to  what  should  constitute  the 
basis  of  their  technical  instruction.    Should  a  college  education  be 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  37 

made  a  requirement  of  admission  to  a  school  of  social  work  regard- 
less of  the  subjects  included  in  the  college  course?  In  view  of  the 
varying  content  of  the  subject-matter  of  the  courses  in  the  social 
sciences  in  different  institutions,  as  well  as  the  differences  in  the 
quality  of  instruction,  is  it  practicable  at  the  present  time  to  set  up 
a  high  standard  of  attainment  in  these  sciences  as  a  prerequisite  to 
a  professional  school?  Since  social  work  from  its  very  nature  makes 
such  heavy  demands  upon  soundness  of  judgment,  strong  person- 
ahty,  and  practical  experience,  should  not  factors  of  this  kind  rather 
than  academic  requirements  be  given  chief  consideration?  Is  it 
wise  at  this  stage  of  development  of  social  work  to  set  up  academic 
standards  of  admission  to  professional  schools  that  cannot  be  at- 
tained by  many  who  otherwise  seem  admirably  fitted  to  become 
useful  social  workers? 

It  is  of  help  in  trying  to  answer  these  questions  to  remind  our- 
selves that  the  heart  of  the  difficulty  lies,  in  the  last  analysis,  in  the 
chaotic  state  of  social  work  itself.  As  long  as  there  is  in  the  wide 
field  of  social  work  no  professional  organization  that  concerns  itself 
with  standards  and  gives  real  unity  to  the  profession  it  is  to  be  ex- 
pected that  each  type  of  social  work  will  set  up  its  own  standards 
based  upon  its  own  experience  and  point  of  view.  In  such  a  stage 
of  development  of  social  work,  science  has  no  assured  place.  Scien- 
tific studies  seem  far  removed  from  practical  work  and  therefore  any 
alHance  with  them  that  places  restrictions  upon  the  entrance  to 
social  work  is  regarded  as  inconsistent  with  its  proper  development. 
It  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  the  age-long  misunderstanding  be- 
tween the  practical  worker  and  the  man  of  science.  The  former 
was  first  in  the  field  and  is  inclined  to  regard  the  scientist  as  an 
intruder  until  science  has  outstripped  practice  and  gained  the  right 
of  leadership. 

In  the  medical  profession  the  confusion  between  medical  prac- 
tice and  medical  science  existed  until  the  latter  was  able  in  com- 
paratively recent  years  to  demonstrate  its  proper  place  in  the 


38  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

determination  of  professional  standards.  While  the  social  sciences 
have  not  advanced  as  far  as  the  natural  sciences  they  are  sufficiently 
well  developed  to  justify  their  claim  that  they  must  be  taken  into 
account  in  efforts  to  solve  social  problems.  Any  difference  of  opin- 
ion about  this  must  be  regarded  as  due  to  ignorance  of  the  present 
status  of  the  social  sciences  or  failure  to  appreciate  the  place  of 
science  in  modern  progress. 

If  technical  instruction  in  social  work  is  to  be  based  on  the 
social  sciences,  what  is  the  extent  of  the  foundation  that  should  be 
required?  Certainly  the  minimum  requirement  would  seem  to  be 
the  usual  undergraduate  courses  in  sociology,  economics,  history, 
political  science,  psychology,  and  biology.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how 
anything  less  could  give  the  student  a  scientific  equipment  com- 
parable to  that  which  is  expected  of  the  medical  student.  In  the 
four-year  undergraduate  course  in  social  work  offered  by  several  of 
the  Universities  this  equipment  in  social  sciences  comes  as  a  matter 
of  course.  The  graduate  schools  of  social  work,  however,  will  not 
find  it  easy  to  require  their  candidates  for  admission  to  be  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  the  social  sciences.  Taking  the  country  as  a 
whole  the  majority  of  those  seeking  training  in  social  work  are 
deficient  in  these  subjects.  Maybe  the  graduate  schools  could 
meet  the  situation  by  estabHshing  a  prehminary  year  for  the  benefit 
of  students  who  need  a  better  foundation  for  their  technical  studies. 
A  better  solution  perhaps  would  be  to  increase  the  number  of 
universities  that  give  an  undergraduate  course  in  social  work.  The 
graduate  schools  then  could  maintain  a  real  graduate  status  and 
would  no  longer  need  to  give  their  attention  to  elementary  courses 
of  instruction. 

During  a  period  of  adjustment  it  might  be  necessary  to  make 
provision  for  special  courses  to  meet  the  extraordinary  demand  for 
social  workers.*  This  would  be  especially  true  in  those  sections  of 
the  country  where  few  colleges  and  universities  give  adequate 
attention  to  the  social  sciences.    But  in  a  reasonably  brief  time  a 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  39 

sufficient  number  of  students  could  be  found  properly  prepared  for 
their  professional  studies.  The  number  that  would  be  lost  by  the 
setting  of  higher  standards  would  be  at  least  partially  offset  by  those 
who  would  not  have  been  attracted  to  the  professional  school  under 
its  present  system  of  instruction. 

This  emphasis  upon  academic  attainments  as  a  basis  of  educa- 
tion for  social  work  must  not  force  unduly  into  the  background  the 
personal  quaHfications  that  should  be  possessed  by  those  seeking 
training  in  this  particular  field.  While  in  all  the  professions  the 
highest  success  cannot  be  won  unless  technical  equipment  is  sup- 
plemented by  a  high  grade  of  personal  quahties,  in  social  work 
this  is  pre-eminently  true.  The  social  worker's  stock  in  trade 
seems  much  less  tangible  than  that  of  the  engineer,  physician, 
lawyer,  or  teacher.  His  services  to  individuals  and  communities 
may  be  vital  and  based  on  expert  knowledge,  but  they  do  not 
always  stand  out  in  such  a  clear-cut  and  definite  manner  that  they 
are  easily  imderstood  and  readily  acceptable.  For  this  reason 
technical  knowledge  alone  is  not  sufficient.  The  social  worker  must 
be  a  salesman,  a  promoter,  an  organizer.  His  personality  should 
be  such  as  would  command  respect  and  win  confidence.  He  must 
be  a  community  leader  and  at  the  same  time  possess  those  qualities 
of  tact,  and  sympathy,  and  common  sense,  and  power  of  will  that 
give  him  personal  influence  over  those  whom  he  is  trying  to  help. 

Personal  quaHfications,  therefore,  must  also  be  regarded  as 
necessary  prerequisites  for  technical  training  in  social  work.  Ac- 
curate means  of  measuring  these  quahties  in  applicants  for  admis- 
sion to  a  professional  school  do  not  exist.  A  careful  study  of  a 
candidate's  references  often  proves  insufficient.  In  order  to  arrive 
at  a  correct  judgment,  this  should  be  supplemented  by  personal 
observation  qi  the  student  during  his  period  of  training.  In  the 
undergraduate  school  of  social  work  a  decision  about  the  student's 
qualifications  can  be  made  after  the  first  two  years'  work  before 
the  specialization  has  gone  far  enough  to  make  it  difficult  for  the 


40  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

student  to  change  his  line  of  study.  In  the  graduate  school,  an 
accurate  decision  ought  to  be  made  about  the  student's  personal 
qualifications  before  he  enters  upon  the  course.  Efforts  to  raise 
the  standards  of  education  for  social  work  must  include  due  atten- 
tion to  an  accurate  measurement  of  personal  qualities  as  well  as  of 
academic  attainments. 


CHAPTER  IV 
TECHNICAL  COURSES  OF  INSTRUCTION 

In  the  discussion  of  the  historical  development  of  schools  of 
social  work  it  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  their  courses  of 
instruction  were  from  the  beginning  of  a  most  practical  nature. 
The  instructors  in  almost  all  instances  were  persons  engaged  in 
social  work  who  were  more  interested  in  imparting  to  their  students 
their  technique  than  in  following  the  usual  academic  type  of 
instruction.  Just  because  the  schools  of  social  work  were  organized 
in  this  way  they  escaped  some  of  the  shortcomings  that  have 
hampered  the  progress  of  other  fields  of  professional  education. 
The  first  engineering  schools  were  manned  by  university  instructors 
who  carried  their  university  teaching  methods  into  the  professional 
school  and  as  a  consequence  failed  for  a  long  time  to  adjust  them- 
selves to  the  real  needs  of  engineering  students.  Medical  educa- 
tion also  passed  through  its  didactic  method  of  instruction  and  only 
gradually  built  up  courses  growing  out  of  a  scientific  handhng  of 
experience. 

The  schools  of  social  work  on  the  other  hand  began  with  training 
classes  held  by  social  work  organizations  for  the  benefit  of  their 
own  employees.  They  were  interested  in  technique  rather  than  in 
research  and  sought  their  teaching  material  in  daily  experience 
instead  of  in  textbooks.  The  graduates  of  these  schools  there- 
fore were  usually  acceptable  to  the  social  agencies,  and  fitted  into 
available  positions  without  the  necessity  of  making  radical  adjust- 
ments. But  while  these  results  were  fortunate  it  must  not  be 
overlooked  that  schools  of  this  kind  have  a  tendency  to  place 
emphasis  upon  immediate  needs  rather  than  upon  the  thorough- 
going scientific  foundation  demanded  by  the  best  professional 
standards.  It  thus  happened  that  the  schools  of  social  work,  in 
avoiding  the  mistakes  of  academic  instruction,  went  to  the  opposite 

41 


42  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

extreme  of  depreciating  the  value  of  the  scientific  studies  carried 
on  by  the  universities.  As  a  natural  result  the  professional  schools 
lost  in  academic  standing  and  were  generally  given  the  same  rating 
as  normal  schools  of  the  older  type.  The  universities  on  their  part 
failed  for  many  years  to  receive  the  impetus  to  the  development 
of  their  work  in  the  social  sciences  which  would  have  resulted  from 
a  frank  recognition  of  the  value  of  laboratory  and  cHnical  work  in 
this  field. 

Within  the  past  few  years  this  traditional  gulf  between  the  social 
scientist  in  the  university  and  the  social  worker  seems  in  a  fair  way 
of  being  bridged.  Both  are  finding  that  they  have  much  to  learn 
from  each  other  and  that  through  a  union  of  effort  their  common 
goal  can  more  easily  be  attained.  The  social  worker  is  not  merely 
a  practitioner  but  also  a  social  scientist.  He  must  therefore  be 
equipped  in  the  use  of  scientific  methods  as  well  as  in  the  practical 
\    technique  of  his  daily  work. 

This  new  attitude  cannot  fail  to  have  a  marked  effect  upon  the 
curriculum  of  the  schools  of  social  work.  It  at  once  makes  it 
evident  as  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  this  curriculum  must 
be  built  upon  the  foundation  of  scientific  studies  rather  than  upon 
the  foundation  of  general  education  and  practical  experience.  It 
is  difficult  to  see  how  instruction  in  schools  of  social  work  can  be  of 
graduate  quahty  if  their  curriculum  is  adapted  equally  well  to  the 
needs  of  college  graduates  who  have  speciaKzed  in  the  social  sciences 
and  of  other  students  with  either  less  or  a  different  type  of  pre- 
liminary education.  As  long  as  students  are  permitted  to  plunge 
into  technical  courses  of  social  work,  as  is  now  frequently  the  case, 
without  careful  study  of  those  sciences  that  deal  with  the  social 
order,  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  standardize  these  courses  and 
maintain  them  at  the  high  level  required  dn  other  professions.  But 
while  this  insistence  upon  a  proper  scientinc  foundation  represents  a 
real  step  forward,  it  would  be  unfortunate  if  the  social  scientists  in 
the  universities  attempted  to  make  radical  changes  in  the  courses 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  43 

of  instruction  in  social  work  without  an  appreciation  of  the  value 
of  the  methods  that  have  been  followed. 

In  working  out  the  curricula  of  schools  of  social  work  the 
custom  has  generally  been  to  have  the  courses  follow  very  closely 
the  different  types  of  work  carried  on  by  the  various  agencies.  For 
example  the  courses  given  by  the  New  York  School  of  Social  Work 
are  grouped  under  eight  departments:  case-work,  child  welfare, 
industry,  social  research,  community  work,  mental  hygiene,  crimi- 
nology, and  medical  social  service.  In  some  of  the  courses  certain 
processes  characteristic  of  the  different  kinds  of  social  work  are 
singled  out  and  the  technique  of  carrying  on  these  processes  is 
made  the  subject  of  instruction.  Examples  of  such  courses  are 
those  deahng  with  the  technique  of  case- work,  the  technique  of 
social  research,  the  technique  of  community  organization,  and  the 
technique  of  record  keeping.  Other  courses  deal  directly  with  types 
of  social  work  carried  on  by  the  more  important  social  agencies. 
In  this  group  we  find  such  courses  as  family  welfare,  child  welfare, 
recreation,  juvenile  delinquency,  housing  investigation,  psychiatric 
social  work,  and  medical  social  service. 

While  some  of  these  courses  are  similar  in  title  to  those  offered 
by  a  well-equipped  university  department  of  appUed  sociology, 
their  distinguishing  characteristic  is  their  emphasis  upon  technique. 
The  point  of  view  is  action,  not  contemplation  and  reflection.  The 
students  do  not  stand  off  and  study  the  problem  in  a  detached 
manner  but  are  made  to  feel  that  they  are  actively  participating  in 
all  the  processes  connected  with  its  solution.  They  find  them- 
selves surrounded  by  the  atmosphere  of  social  work  rather  than 
that  of  social  research.  As  a  result  they  do  not  learn  merely  about 
social  problems;  they  learn  how  to  deal  with  them.  A  typical 
university  course  in  the  administration  of  charities  may  make  quite 
clear  the  problems  in  this  field  A  student  in  such  a  course  may 
with  great  profit  to  himself  make  a  study  of  different  types  of 
administration  and  secure  results  of  value  as  social  research.^  It  is 


44  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

an  entirely  different  matter  to  present  this  course  in  such  a  way 
that  the  student  assumes  the  attitude  of  the  participator  rather 
than  that  of  the  observer  and  thus  is  made  to  feel  as  living  realities 
the  different  methods  and  points  of  view  of  those  at  work  in  this 
field. 

This  t3^e  of  technical  instruction  represents  one  of  the  great 
contributions  of  the  schools  of  social  work  to  the  field  of  applied 
sociology.  Without  courses  of  this  nature  a  high  tj^e  of  profes- 
sional instruction  cannot  be  given.  A  great  mistake  will  be  made 
by  the  universities  that  have  recently  become  interested  in  edu- 
cation for  social  work  if  they  believe  that  the  addition  of  a  field- 
work  course  to  their  traditional  courses  in  social  science  will  equip 
them  for  professional  instruction.  Nothing  will  more  quickly 
discredit  the  recent  efforts  of  universities  to  enter  this  field.  It 
would  represent  a  backward  step  in  professional  education  in  which 
the  social  scientist  will  have  failed  to  take  advantage  of  the  painful 
experiences  through  which  the  technical  schools  of  other  profes- 
sions have  passed. 

If  the  universities  are  to  succeed  in  this  field  of  instruction  it  is 
essential  that  they  clearly  recognize  the  difference  between  the 
course  that  lays  emphasis  upon  knowledge  through  research  and  the 
course  that  is  interested  in  technique.  At  present  the  tendency  in 
a  few  universities  is  to  combine  these  two  types  of  courses  under 
the  direction  of  an  instructor  who  may  know  something  about 
technique,  but  has  himself  never  mastered  it.  Such  a  situation 
would  not  be  tolerated  in  a  medical  school  for  there  it  is  taken  for 
granted  that  an  instructor  in  therapeutics  must  himself  at  some 
time  have  acquired  experience  in  that  field  through  successful 
practice.  Just  here  is  the  great  difficulty  the  universities  face  in 
developing  professional  instruction  in  social  work.  Men  of  aca- 
demic standing  with  experience  in  practical  work  are  not  easily 
available  for  teaching  purposes.  The  bearing  of  this  fact  upon  the 
problem  under  discussion  should  be  recognized.    Nothing  can  be 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  45 

more  fatal  to  the  influence  of  the  university  in  this  field  of  pro- 
fessional education  than  to  assume  that  courses  can  be  made  voca- 
tional by  a  change  in  name  and  a  sHght  modification  of  content. 
Vocational  courses  worthy  of  consideration  in  professional  circles 
must  be  conducted  by  instructors  whose  minimum  participation 
in  practical  work  is  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  create  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  social  agency  under  discussion  and  to  impart  to  the 
students  its  point  of  view. 

The  influence  therefore  of  the  university  on  the  curriculum  of 
schools  of  social  work  may  not  necessarily  be  in  the  line  of  progress. 
Their  methods  of  instruction  and  attitude  toward  practical  work 
will  in  many  instances  need  considerable  modification  before  they 
are  equipped  for  effective  leadership  in  this  field.  If,  however,  the 
necessary  adjustments  are  successfully  made,  there  is  reason  to 
beheve  that  the  universities'  entrance  into  professional  education 
for  social  work  will  exert  an  influence  upon  its  standards  similar 
to  that  brought  about  by  their  participation  in  other  fields  of  pro- 
fessional education. 

Where  their  iitfuence  is  particularly  needed  is  in  giving  greater 
emphasis  to  intellectual  standards.  The  curriculum  of  schools  of 
social  work  has  been  built  up  almost  entirely  by  practical  workers 
whose  emphasis  has  chiefly  been  laid  on  the  side  of  experience. 
The  courses  of  study  have  been  designed  to  teach  how  particular 
processes  should  be  carried  on  and  definite  situations  met.  Along 
with  this  emphasis  upon  the  value  of  training  by  doing  there  has 
grown  up,  if  not  a  distrust  of  intellectual  studies,  at  least  a  failure 
to  appreciate  their  proper  place  in  a  scheme  of  professional  educa- 
tion. This  tendency  is  by  no  means  new  for  it  has  characterized 
the  early  stages  of  legal,  engineering,  and  medical  education.  It  is 
an  inheritance  from  the  apprenticeship  system  of  training  and  must 
be  outgrown  as  standards  of  education  are  raised. 

It  would  be  unfair  to  leave  the  impression  that  present  courses 
of  instruction  in  schools  of  social  work  pay  no  attention  to  academic 


46  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

standards.  Much  progress  has  been  made  during  the  past  two 
decades  since  the  organization  of  the  first  training  classes.  Courses 
of  instruction  usually  incorporate  the  best  results  of  social  research 
and  carry  with  them  the  customary  quota  of  assigned  readings. 
The  chief  difficulty  is  that  the  requirements  in  practical  work  are 
placed  first  throughout  the  whole  course  and  are  in  some  cases  so 
heavy  that  time  for  study  is  reduced  to  a  minimum.  In  one  in- 
stance, the  students  in  a  school  of  social  work  spent  their  mornings 
in  practical  work  with  a  social  agency,  their  afternoons  in  classes 
at  the  school,  and  their  evenings  in  participating  in  the  varied 
activities  of  social  settlements.  The  usual  amount  of  readings 
supplementary  to  the  courses  were  assigned  to  the  students  but  it 
was  manifestly  impossible  to  insist  upon  the  outside  study  necessary 
to  make  these  courses  comparable  to  a  graduate  school.  While 
this  may  be  an  imusual  instance  it  is  fairly  typical  of  the  prevailing 
tendency.  What  is  needed  is  not  merely  a  recognition  of  the  value 
of  study  but  an  arrangement  of  the  curriculum  that  would  make  a 
proper  amount  of  study  possible.  It  is  to  be  expected  that  the 
influence  of  the  universities  will  be  in  the  direction  of  increased 
time  for  study.  Indeed,  unless  they  modify  to  a  certain  extent 
their  traditional  point  of  view,  they  may  go  too  far  in  their  intel- 
lectual requirements  and  fail  to  build  up  a  well-balanced  cur- 
riculmn. 

Another  serious  problem  of  the  curriculum  has  to  do  with  the 
organization  of  the  courses  of  instruction.  What  principles  shall  de- 
termine the  arrangement  of  the  subject-matter?  Can  these  courses 
be  made  to  give.a  better  historical  perspective  and  a  wider  knowledge 
of  general  principles  without  detracting  from  the  interest  that  is 
always  aroused  by  the  immediately  practical?  Here  is  a  problem 
that  is  vital  to  the  success  of  the  professional  school.  If  the  inde- 
pendent schools  of  social  work  have  erred  in  concentrating  too  great 
attention  upon  practical  problems  and  immediate  situations,  the 
university  courses  in  this  field  have  usually  gone  to  the  opposite 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  47 

extreme.  Will  it  be  possible  to  build  up  courses  that  will  avoid 
the  shortcomings  of  both? 

It  would  seem  that  the  solution  of  this  problem  does  not  demand 
a  radical  change  in  the  general  type  of  professional  course  that 
has  become  most  common.  In  so  far  as  these  courses  are  built 
up  around  a  study  of  the  problems  with  which  social  work  has  to 
deal  they  are  essentially  right  in  principle.  Courses  deahng  with 
problems  of  the  family,  the  community,  child  welfare,  juvenile 
delinquency,  immigration,  housing,  recreation,  and  similar  problems, 
not  only  cover  subjects  with  which  social  workers  must  be  familiar 
but  represent  the  best  pedagogical  method  of  approach. 

Where  they  frequently  need  strengthening  is  in  an  increased 
emphasis  upon  the  more  general  facts  and  principles  that  give  a 
comprehensive  understanding  of  the  whole  situation  rather  than  a 
definite  solution  of  the  immediate  problem.  The  problem  itself 
should  continue  to  be  the  point  of  departure  and  should  lead  in  a 
natural  way  to  a  study  of  the  historical  facts  bearing  upon  it.  By 
beginning  with  the  problem  instead  of  the  historical  introduction 
so  common  in  university  courses,  the  interest  necessary  for  con- 
centrated effort  is  aroused  and  the  interpretative  value  of  the  his- 
torical elements  stands  out  more  clearly.  But  the  point  where  the 
usual  professional  course  lays  itself  open  to  criticism  is  in  its 
tendency  to  lead  directly  toward  a  consideration  of  methods  and 
technique.  The  failure  to  give  sufficient  emphasis  to  the  complex 
factors  that  enter  into  the  problem  under  discussion  and  the  causes 
that  underlie  it  bring  about  a  concentration  upon  mechanical  pro- 
cesses and  an  overrefinement  of  technique,  that  may  be  useful  to 
specialists  who  are  to  deal  with  particular  situations  but  does  not 
make  them  professionally  educated  in  the  broadest  sense.  The 
ideal  in  technical  courses  of  instruction  is  to  make  everything  con- 
tribute to  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  whole  problem  which  will 
as  a  matter  of  course  include  attention  to  the  most  approved 
technique. 


48  "  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

If  the  technical  courses  of  instruction  deal  in  this  way  with 
specific  problems  there  would  seem  to  be  less  necessity  for  courses 
in  which  the  entire  emphasis  is  upon  technique.  The  technique  of 
family  case-work  would  not  need  to  be  taught  as  a  distinct  process 
because  it  would  be  a  natural  part  of  the  courses  dealing  with  prob- 
lems of  the  family,  child  welfare,  juvenile  delinquency,  etc.  In  the 
same  way  the  technique  of  community  organization  would  be  taught 
in  connection  with  courses  in  community  problems.  Such  subjects, 
also,  as  methods  of  pubHcity,  financing  of  social  agencies,  office 
management  and  routine,  and  other  aspects  of  social-work  adminis- 
tration, might  be  considered  more  effectively  in  their  immediate 
application  to  specific  problems  than  in  courses  dealing  exclusively 
with  the  technique  of  executive  management  and  administration. 

In  this  connection  it  ought  to  be  stated  that  methods  of  social- 
work  administration  have  never  been  given  adequate  attention  by 
the  professional  schools.  Courses  in  social  work  have  usually  been 
designed  to  prepare  technicians  rather  than  executives.  Since  the 
graduates  of  schools  of  social  work  have  found  their  most  available 
opportunities  of  employment  with  social  agencies  in  large  cities 
where  they  must  serve  for  a  considerable  time  in  a  subordinate 
capacity  before  being  given  executive  responsibility,  there  has  not 
been  much  demand  for  instruction  in  administrative  methods.  But 
with  the  recent  development  of  social  work  in  small  towns  and 
communities  the  graduates  of  a  professional  school  will  frequently 
be  called  upon  to  take  a  position  where  both  executive  ability  and 
social-work  technique  are  needed.  Even  if  the  executive  positions 
in  social  agencies  in  the  large  cities  can  be  successfully  filled  by  per- 
sons who  have  come  up  through  the  ranks,  this  plan  will  not  always 
be  found  practicable  in  the  smaller  communities.  The  new  situa- 
tion can  only  be  met  by  an  adjustment  of  the  curriculum  of  the 
training  schools  which  will  provide  the  needed  instruction  along 
administrative  lines.  A  recent  effort  to  meet  this  need  was  the 
special  course  the  past  summer  at  Ohio  State  University  for  organi- 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  49 

zers  and  executives  in  social  work.  This  course  which  was  given 
by  the  university  in  co-operation  with  the  Association  for  Com- 
munity Organization  and  the  American  Red  Cross  was  designed 
primarily  for  persons  of  social-work  experience  who  gave  promise  of 
capacity  for  executive  leadership.  During  the  eight  weeks'  simi- 
mer  session  the  attention  of  the  students  was  concentrated  upon 
the  principles  and  methods  of  community  organization  and  the 
problems  connected  with  the  administration  of  social  agencies. 
This  work  was  carried  on  through  classroom  lectures  and  discus- 
sions, assigned  readings,  and  a  limited  amount  of  observation  of 
the  methods  of  local  and  state  organizations.  The  remainder  of  the 
course,  which  covered  a  period  of  eight  months,  is  being  spent  by  the 
students  as  employees  of  organizations  doing  conmiunity  work 
where  under  the  supervision  of  skilled  workers  they  are  gaining 
experience  in  dealing  with  actual  administrative  problems.  A 
course  of  this  kind  has  real  value  for  a  picked  group  preparing  for 
executive  positions  of  considerable  responsibility.  Its  chief  present 
significance,  however,  is  in  calling  attention  to  the  value  of  specific 
instruction  in  administrative  methods  and  in  demonstrating  one 
way  in  which  this  may  be  given  with  a  fair  degree  of  success.  The 
course  will  have  met  more  than  an  immediate  need  if  it  results  in  a 
greater  emphasis  by  the  professional  schools  upon  instruction  along 
administrative  Hues.  Such  a  strengthening  of  the  curricula  of 
schools  of  social  work  will  represent  an  important  step  forward  in 
building  up  a  well-balanced  professional  course  of  study. 

This  addition  to  the  courses  of  study,  together  with  the  in- 
creasing number  of  courses  that  must  be  added  to  the  curriculum 
to  keep  pace  with  the  rapid  development  of  the  many  different 
types  of  social  work,  has  brought  professional  schools  to  the  point 
where  they  must  group  their  courses  under  separate  departments 
and  direct  their  students  to  specialize  in  certain  lines  of  work.  The 
time  is  past  when  students  can  take  a  general  course  of  training  in 
social  work  and  then  be  equipped  for  a  position  with  any  agency 


50  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

they  may  select.  The  New  York  School  of  Social  Work  is  attempt- 
ing to  meet  the  situation  by  devoting  the  first  year  to  fundamental 
courses  that  may  be  regarded  as  common  to  all  forms  of  social  work, 
while  vocational  training  in  one  department  makes  up  the  work  of 
the  second  year.  This  selection  of  fundamental  courses  that  should 
serve  as  a  general  introduction  to  the  more  highly  specialized  voca- 
tional work  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction.  Too  early  specialization 
has  been  one  of  the  tendencies  of  the  schools  of  social  work  which 
has  had  the  unfortunate  result  of  turning  out  graduates  incapable 
of  seeing  beyond  their  own  particular  field. 

Just  what  should  constitute  the  fundamental  courses  that  should 
precede  the  highly  specialized  vocational  studies  is  doubtless  a  mat- 
ter about  which  general  agreement  cannot  now  be  reached.  It 
depends  to  a  certain  extent  upon  what  is  included  in  the  prepro- 
fessional  studies  that  have  been  completed  before  entering  the  pro- 
fessional school.  Among  the  first-year  courses  Hsted  by  the  New 
York  School  of  Social  Work  are  courses  in  immigration,  labor  prob- 
lems, crime  and  punishment,  methods  of  social  research,  American 
government  and  administration — topics  which  are  ordinarily  cov- 
ered in  a  university  curriculum.  The  difficulty  is  that  with  the 
present  lack  of  uniform  standards  in  college  requirements  in  the 
social  sciences  it  is  practically  impossible  to  know  where  to  begin  in 
a  course  of  professional  education  for  social  work.  Certainly  no 
one  would  be  so  bold  as  to  claim  that  the  average  college  graduate 
has  made  such  a  study  of  the  social  sciences  as  would  definitely  pre- 
pare him  for  the  technical  studies  in  this  field.  The  fact  that  he  has 
taken  certain  courses  may  not  be  of  any  real  significance.  The 
content  of  the  courses  and  the  way  they  are  presented  must  de- 
termine whether  they  are  of  preprofessional  value. 

The  undergraduate  course  in  social  work  given  by  a  few  univer- 
sities would  seem  to  be  better  adapted  to  meet  this  situation.  In  a 
training  school  of  this  kind  it  is  not  only  possible  to  provide  the 
proper  number  of  preprofessional  courses  but  also  to  see  that  they 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  51 

are  properly  correlated  and  conducted  in  such  a  way  as  to  fit  into 
the  whole  scheme  of  social-work  education.  Under  this  plan  the 
preprofessional  courses  of  the  first  three  years  would  be  followed 
in  the  Senior  year  by  the  more  fundamental  technical  courses  that 
would  give  a  general  knowledge  of  the  field  of  social  work.  If  then 
this  is  followed  by  one  graduate  year  of  specialized  vocational 
training  a  standard  of  professional  education  would  have  been  at- 
tained which  under  present  conditions  cannot  generally  be  realized 
by  the  usual  two-year  graduate  course. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  CASE  METHOD  OF  INSTRUCTION 

The  case  method  of  instruction  as  it  has  been  developed  espe- 
cially in  schools  of  law  and  social  work  stands  out  as  an  important 
contribution  to  methods  of  professional  education.  The  case 
method  considered  in  its  broadest  sense  is  of  course  by  no  means 
limited  to  these  two  fields.  Its  underlying  principles  have  long 
been  the  dominant  factor  in  all  scientific  instruction.  It  is,  in  fact, 
simply  the  method  of  science  which  begins  with  the  concrete  fact 
instead  of  the  general  principle.  In  the  field  of  the  natural  sciences, 
no  other  method  would  now  be  given  serious  consideration.  With- 
out the  laboratory  and  the  microscope  and  an  opportunity  for 
patient  study  of  specimens  and  cases,  the  work  of  the  scientist  could 
not  be  successfully  done.  In  the  social  sciences  also,  this  inductive 
method  of  instruction  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  matter  of  course. 
There  must  first  be  the  careful  study  of  actual  facts  and  conditions 
before  generalization  can  begin.  In  this  sense  the  case  method  is 
nothing  more  or  less  than  the  method  of  induction  and  as  such  takes 
its  place  in  the  wider  movement  of  educational  reform  which  in 
recent  years  has  been  so  rapidly  overthrowing  traditional  methods 
of  instruction. 

But  in  the  more  specific  meaning  of  this  term  the  case  method 
applies  more  particularly  to  the  type  of  instruction  most  common  in 
schools  of  law  and  social  work  where  the  point  of  departure  and  the 
chief  content  of  the  course  consist  in  the  study  and  analysis  of  sepa- 
rate cases.  Its  origin  as  far  as  law  schools  are  concerned  goes  back 
to  the  Harvard  Law  School  in  1871,  when  Langdell  threw  aside  the 
traditional  textbooks  and  endeavored  to  teach  the  principles  of  law 
through  a  study  of  selected  cases.  This  method,  which  at  the  time 
seemed  so  revolutionary,  was  based  on  the  conviction  that  law  is  a 
science  with  its  own  data  and  body  of  experience  which  must  be 

52 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  53 

studied  as  we  do  the  material  of  any  other  science  as  it  develops  in 
concrete  situations.  In  Langdell's  opinion  the  student  could  be 
given  a  more  systematic  view  of  the  principles  of  law  and  a  clearer 
comprehension  of  their  historical  development  by  a  study  of  cases, 
carefully  selected  and  arranged,  than  by  the  customary  deductive 
study  of  the  principles  themselves.  The  central  feature  of  this 
method  of  instruction  in  law  is  the  analysis  of  separate  cases  by  the 
students  for  the  purpose  of  disentangling  the  facts  and  bringing  out 
the  point  of  law  involved.  This  task,  whether  performed  independ- 
ently by  the  students  or  carried  out  under  the  guidance  of  the  teacher 
in  classroom  discussion,  results  not  merely  in  giving  a  practical 
knowledge  of  law  but  trains  the  mind  in  methods  of  legal  thinking. 

The  success  of  the  case  method  of  teaching  law  can  be  judged 
by  the  fact  that  it  has  become  the  general  mode  of  instruction  in 
the  more  prominent  law  schools  in  this  country.  It  is  indeed  largely 
due  to  this  method  of  instruction  that  the  study  of  law  in  American 
universities  has  been  placed  upon  a  scientific  basis  comparable  to 
that  of  other  important  fields  of  professional  education. 

In  the  schools  of  social  work  the  case  method  is  less  widely 
known  but  is  of  equal  importance.  Its  use  in  this  field  has  been 
largely  in  connection  with  the  teaching  of  the  technique  of  case 
work.  The  apprentice  in  a  case-work  agency  receives  his  first 
initiation  to  his  duties  through  a  study  and  analysis  of  case  records 
taken  from  the  files  of  the  organization  employing  him.  This  study 
under  the  direction  of  a  competent  district  secretary  or  supervisor 
and  accompanied  by  actual  work  in  the  field  under  supervision  has 
long  been  the  central  feature  of  the  apprenticeship  system  of  train- 
ing in  this  type  of  social  work. 

The  case  method  of  instruction  in  schools  of  social  work  follows 
essentially  the  same  lines.  Carefully  selected  case  histories  rather 
than  textbooks  are  relied  upon  for  teaching  material.  The  in- 
structor of  case  work  usually  selects  and  edits  or  secures  from  some 
outside  source  a  few  records  suitable  for  teaching  purposes  and 


54  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

builds  up  his  course  around  a  class  discussion  of  the  facts  contained 
in  these  records  and  the  points  of  technique  illustrated  by  them. 
These  records  are  not  usually  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  students, 
at  least  in  the  beginning  of  the  course  of  study.  A  common  method 
is  for  the  instructor  to  read  them,  paragraph  by  paragraph,  in  the 
classroom  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  students  to  reconstruct 
in  imagination  the  actual  situation  faced  by  the  worker  who  handled 
the  case  and  then  decide  between  the  alternative  courses  of  action 
that  present  themselves  at  critical  points  of  the  record.  By  thus 
living  through,  as  it  were,  the  experience  of  the  case  worker  and 
step  by  step  working  out  the  proper  procedure  to  be  followed,  the 
student  not  only  becomes  familiar  with  the  technique  of  case  work, 
but  obtains  a  real  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  social  problems  and 
of  the  social  forces  in  the  community  that  may  be  utilized  in  work- 
ing out  their  solution. 

The  advantages  of  this  method  over  that  of  a  general  discussion 
of  social  problems  are  obvious.  The  stu;dent  who  has  thought 
through  the  experiences  of  a  worker  in  his  efforts  over  a  period  of 
months  or  years  to  re-establish  a  dependent  family  has  an  intimate 
insight  into  the  problems  of  dependency  that  could  not  be  obtained 
by  any  amount  of  general  reading.  When  this  class  discussion  of  a 
case  record  under  the  guidance  of  a  competent  instructor  is  supple- 
mented by  a  sufficient  amount  of  field  work  to  give  the  student 
actual  experience  in  dealing  with  the  problems  under  discussion  in 
the  classroom,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  method  of  instruction 
better  adapted  to  the  needs  of  students  preparing  for  professional 
work  in  this  field. 

One  of  the  problems  in  the  successful  use  of  this  method  of  in- 
struction is  that  of  securing  the  proper  kind  of  teaching  material. 
Case  records,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out  by  Porter  R.  Lee,^ 
have  been  prepared  by  organizations  for  their  own  use  and  not  with 

*  "Preparation  of  Teaching  Material,"  New  Orleans  Conference  of  Social  Work, 
1920. 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  55 

the  needs  of  students  in  mind.  Their  chief  concern  is  with  the  actual 
steps  that  were  taken  and  the  results  secured,  whereas  the  student 
is  interested  primarily  in  how  a  particular  course  of  action  was  de- 
cided upon  and  why  it  was  chosen  in  preference  to  other  alternatives. 
This  calls  for  an  analysis  of  the  processes  involved  in  handling  the 
case  which  cannot  easily  be  done  because  of  the  lack  of  sufficient 
data  of  the  right  kind  in  the  record  itself.  Instructors  using  the 
case  method  sometimes  overcome  this  difficulty  by  depending  upon 
case  records  with  which  they  have  personal  knowledge.  Another 
plan  is  to  secure  the  needed  data  through  a  personal  conference  with 
the  person  who  handled  the  case  and  wrote  the  record. 

As  long,  however,  as  lack  of  teaching  material  compels  each 
instructor  to  be  responsible  for  finding  and  editing  the  case  records 
for  his  own  use,  the  case  method  of  instruction  in  social  work  must 
be  regarded  as  far  behind  the  achievements  of  the  case  method  in 
law  which  for  many  years  has  had  available  a  large  number  of  care- 
fully selected  and  well-edited  cases.  If  the  case  method  of  teaching 
social  work  is  to  occupy  its  proper  place  as  a  method  of  professional 
education,  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  teaching  material  of 
the  right  kind  be  made  easily  accessible. 

Until  very  recently  Httle  attention  had  been  paid  to  the  prepa- 
ration of  teaching  records  for  general  use.  One  of  the  first  and 
most  significant  attempts  to  meet  this  need  was  made  by  Miss 
Mary  E.  Richmond  of  the  Charity  Organization  Department  of  the 
Russell  Sage  Foundation.  The  records  prepared  under  her  direc- 
tion were  edited  with  great  care  and  have  proved  invaluable  to 
schools  of  social  work  and  to  supervisors  of  case  work  in  charity 
organization  societies.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  records  issued 
under  these  auspices  have  been  few  in  number  and  that  the  re- 
strictions placed  upon  their  circulation  have  made  them  available 
to  only  a  limited  circle. 

Another  effort  to  supply  this  teaching  material  is  being  made  by 
the  American  Red  Cross.    In  order  to  provide  case  records  suitable 


56  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

for  use  in  its  training  courses,  it  has  undertaken  the  preparation  of 
a  series  of  records  designed  to  illustrate  the  most  t3rpical  problems 
met  with  in  dealing  with  disadvantaged  individuals  and  families. 
Records  are  being  secured  from  small  towns  and  rural  communities 
as  well  as  from  large  cities  and  as  far  as  possible  from  all  sections 
of  the  country  so  that  they  may  be  fairly  representative  of  general 
social  conditions.  A  new  feature  of  these  records  is  the  inclusion 
of  all  notes  and  suggestions  for  the  teacher  in  a  separate  teacher's 
manual.  In  this  manual  the  various  steps  taken  in  handling  the 
case  are  analyzed  and  every  effort  is  made  to  supply  the  data  that 
would  be  of  use  to  the  teacher  in  classroom  work. 

The  great  need  of  teaching  material  of  this  kind  would  seem 
to  justify  the  preparation  of  case  books  in  social  work  that  would 
be  comparable  to  those  that  have  been  prepared  for  the  use  of  law 
schools.  There  should  be  included  in  these  case  books  not  only 
the  customary  type  of  record  designed  chiefly  for  use  in  teaching 
the  technique  of  case  work;  there  should  also  be  case  histories 
intended  to  illustrate  types  of  problems  and  results  of  treatment. 
Teachers  of  social  work  could  very  profitably  use  case  records 
patterned  somewhat  after  medical  case  histories,  that  give  briefly 
the  facts  of  diagnosis  and  treatment;  or  legal  case  records,  that  are 
used  to  illustrate  principles  of  law  rather  than  methods  of  legal 
procedure.  Social  case  records  of  this  kind  may  very  well  take 
the  form  of  a  summary  of  the  history  of  the  case.  The  essential 
thing  is  to  have  the  facts  stated  in  suflS-cient  detail  to  give  the  stu- 
dent a  clear  understanding  of  the  problem  in  its  relation  to  the 
particular  situation  in  which  it  occurs.  Sufficient  attention  has 
not  yet  been  given  to  the  teaching  value  of  such  case  summaries. 
Instructors  usually  rely  upon  detailed  chronological  records, 
one  of  which  may  be  made  the  subject  of  class  discussion  for 
a  considerable  period  of  time.  One  of  the  dangers  in  a  prolonged 
study  of  a  few  cases  is  that  students  may  come  to  look  upon 
them  as  pointing  out  the  definite  way  in  which  particular  problems 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  57 

should  be  handled.  This  danger  could  be  largely  overcome  if  a 
study  of  a  detailed  record  dealing  for  example  with  the  problem 
of  desertion  could  be  followed  by  a  brief  discussion  of  a  number  of 
case  summaries  illustrating  the  varied  forms  this  problem  assumed 
under  different  situations,  and  the  kind  of  treatment  given.  It 
would  be  hard  to  find  a  better  way  in  which  to  give  the  student 
a  comprehensive  grasp  of  the  complex  and  ever-changing  factors 
involved  in  social  work. 

Another  type  of  case  record  for  which  there  is  a  real  need  is  that 
which  would  embody  the  experiences  of  those  actively  engaged  in 
the  various  aspects  of  community  organization.  It  is  becoming 
increasingly  evident  that  social  workers  must  understand  the  tech- 
nique of  deahng  with  communities  as  well  as  with  individuals  and 
families.  The  adjustment  of  the  social  forces  of  a  commimity  so 
that  the  largest  possible  contribution  will  be  made  to  the  welfare 
of  all  its  members  is  a  task  which  requires  the  services  of  a  skilled 
leader.  If  training  for  this  kind  of  community  work  is  to  be  carried 
on  effectively  it  ought  to  be  possible  to  profit  by  the  experience  of 
community  workers  just  as  the  experiences  of  case  workers  have 
been  made  use  of  in  training  for  family  work.  Community  case 
records  (if  we  may  use  that  term)  should  be  as  valuable  in  a 
course  in  community  organization  as  are  family  case  records  in 
a  course  in  methods  of  family  case  work.  But  here,  also,  the  com- 
munity record  to  be  of  real  value  for  instruction  in  technique  must 
be  more  than  a  chronological  statement  of  work  undertaken  and 
results  secured;  it  must  analyze  the  steps  that  were  taken  at  sig- 
nificant stages  of  the  community  work  and  indicate  why  any  par- 
ticular course  has  been  chosen  in  preference  to  another.  The 
underlying  and  not  always  easily  recognized  factors  that  deter- 
mined the  fine  of  action  must  be  given  due  attention.  The  usual 
type  of  survey  report  contains  the  information  necessary  to  give  a 
picture  of  the  conditions  that  were  studied  but  it  throws  only  inci- 
dental Hght  on  the  processes  involved  in  making  the  survey.    The 


58  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

student  of  social  conditions  is  satisfied  with  the  report  if  facts  are 
secured;  the  student  learning  how  to  make  a  survey  must  have  a 
supplemental  statement  dealing  with  the  machinery  that  was  used 
in  getting  the  facts  and  preparing  them  for  presentation.  In  a  simi- 
lar manner  the  student  of  the  technique  of  community  organization 
is  interested  not  merely  in  the  fact  that  a  certain  agency  was 
established  in  a  community;  he  wants  to  know  why  this  agency  in 
preference  to  any  other  was  decided  upon  and  the  different  steps 
by  which  its  organization  was  accomplished. 

The  great  difficulty  at  the  present  time  is  that  few  community 
records  of  this  kind  have  been  prepared  and  as  a  consequence  it 
is  not  possible  to  compare  methods  and  determine  whether  the 
technique  in  this  field  can  be  standardized  as  it  has  been  in  other 
lines  of  social  work.  Until  more  progress  has  been  made  in  securing 
this  type  of  community  record,  teaching  material  for  courses  in 
the  technique  of  community  organization  must  be  regarded  as 
entirely  inadequate. 

The  case  method  of  instruction  in  social  work  is  pedagogically 
sound,  and  when  a  proper  amount  of  teaching  material  is  made 
available  it  will  doubtless  come  into  still  wider  use.  There  is  now  a 
tendency  in  some  schools  of  social  work  to  demand  a  great  deal  of 
class  discussion  of  different  types  of  case  records  before  permitting 
the  students  to  engage  in  any  field  work  except  that  of  the  simplest 
t3rpe.  While  this  method  of  instruction  can  never  take  the  place 
of  field  work,  it  may  be  possible  when  a  sufficient  amount  of 
teaching  material  is  available  to  have  the  study  and  discussion 
of  written  records  supplement  in  a  much  larger  way  than  is  now 
customary  the  actual  work  of  the  students  in  the  field. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  PLACE  OF  FIELD  WORK  IN  THE  COURSE 
OF  STUDY 

Education  for  social  work,  unlike  engineering  and  medical 
education,  has  never  passed  through  a  didactic  stage  of  instruction 
with  chief  emphasis  upon  theoretical  studies.  On  the  contrary, 
as  might  be  expected  in  training  schools  that  developed  out  of  the 
apprentice  system,  field-work  training  has  always  been  given  a 
prominent  place  in  the  curriculum. 

Because  of  the  close  relationship  between  the  first  schools  of 
social  work  and  the  social  agencies,  the  latter  as  a  matter  of  course 
assumed  responsibihty  for  the  field  work  of  the  students.  While 
this  plan  involved  the  delegation  of  an  important  part  of  the 
instruction  to  persons  not  directly  under  control  of  the  school  it 
was  felt  that  this  was  the  most  practical  way  of  providing  this 
training.  Experience  soon  demonstrated,  however,  that  field  work 
carried  on  in  this  way  could  with  great  difficulty  be  made  an 
integral  part  of  the  course.  Too  often  it  tended  to  become  a 
kind  of  extra-mural  requirement  dominated  more  by  the  condi- 
tions existing  in  the  agency  than  by  the  ideals  of  the  school.  The 
pressure  of  the  work  in  the  agency,  coupled  with  the  fact  that  those 
actually  in  charge  of  the  practice  work  of  the  students  were  not 
always  skilled  or  interested  in  teaching,  frequently  caused  the 
students'  practice  to  be  hmited  to  meaningless  errand-running 
or  to  other  detached  tasks  of  very  little  educational  value. 

The  existence  of  this  difficulty  has  long  been  recognized  and 
many  efforts  have  been  made  to  find  a  satisfactory  solution.  In 
some  cases,  the  social  agencies  that  have  been  co-operating  with 
schools  of  social  work  set  aside  teaching  districts  in  which  they 
make  an  effort  to  have  workers  specially  qualified  to  supervise 
the  field  work  of  the  students.     The  schools  of  social  work  on 

59 


6o  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

their  part  frequently  give  the  field-work  supervisors  a  nominal 
position  on  their  faculty  and  by  periodical  conferences  with  these 
supervisors  endeavor  to  bring  about  the  proper  correlation  of  the 
practical  work  with  classroom  instruction.  In  many  instances 
the  relationship. between  the  schools  of  social  work  and  the  social 
agencies  has  been  so  close  and  cordial  that  the  problem  has  been 
much  simplified.  The  results  attained  by  the  schools  of  social 
work  indicate  that  this  traditional  method  of  providing  field- 
work  training  has  in  a  considerable  degree  been  successful.  What- 
ever its  failures,  they  have  not  been  due  to  any  lack  of  appreciation 
of  educational  ideals  on  the  part  of  the  executive  heads  of  the 
social  agencies.  The  chief  difficulty  has  been  to  find  members 
of  their  staff  that  have  teaching  ability  and  to  arrange  their  work 
in  such  a  way  that  they  would  have  sufficient  time  to  give  careful 
supervision  to  the  students. 

This  problem  of  the  proper  measure  of  control  over  field-work 
facilities  is  by  no  means  pecuhar  to  schools  of  social  work.  It  is  a 
fundamental  problem  in  the  whole  field  of  professional  education 
and  has  been  met  by  the  professional  schools  in  different  ways.  In 
the  field  of  medical  education  it  is  generally  agreed  that  clinical 
experience  cannot  be  provided  in  the  most  satisfactory  way  by  a 
hospital  or  dispensary  that  is  entirely  detached  from  the  medical 
school.  If  the  hospital  has  the  right  to  limit  the  wards  or  the  types 
of  cases  to  which  the  students  may  have  access,  or  to  determine  the 
hours  when  clinical  instruction  may  be  given,  or  to  set  up  any  other 
restrictions  that  would  interfere  with  a  sound  teaching  policy,  the 
medical  school  cannot  build  up  a  well-balanced  curriculum  that 
will  meet  the  needs  of  the  students.  Experience  has  demonstrated 
that  the  school  should  have  educational  control  of  its  clinical 
facilities,  a  control  that  involves  not  only  the  decision  about 
teaching  arrangements  in  the  hospital,  but  the  power  to  appoint 
the  hospital  staff. 

Engineering  schools,  on  the  other  hand,  are  finding  it  imprac- 
ticable to  depend  upon  their  own  schools  for  the  practice  work  of 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  6i 

their  students.  With  their  Hmited  equipment  it  is  impossible  to 
dupKcate  the  varied  processes  carried  on  in  industry  and  f  amiharize 
the  students  with  actual  working  conditions.  To  instal  and  keep 
up-to-date  the  vast  and  complicated  machinery  of  the  engineering 
world  and  develop  shops  that  would  approximate  the  conditions 
as  they  exist  in  the  varied  lines  of  industry  would  mean  a  tremen- 
dous expense.  The  solution  of  their  field-work  problem  that  seems 
to  be  most  successful  is  the  so-called  co-operative  plan  which  sends 
the  students  into  industrial  plants  on  a  paid  basis  for  their  prac- 
tical work.  This  shopwork  which  alternates  with  classroom 
instruction  is  carefully  graded  and  planned  so  as  to  fit  into  the 
curriculum,  but  it  is  real  work  that  is  of  value  not  only  to  the 
students  but  to  their  employers  as  well.  In  order  to  make  sure  that 
the  shopwork  assigned  to  the  students  is  being  done  in  a  way  that 
would  have  educational  value,  shop  co-ordinators  are  sent  by  the 
school  to  the  shop  where  they  inspect  the  work  of  the  students  and 
confer  with  those  in  charge  of  their  work.  The  industrial  world 
thus  becomes  the  students'  laboratory  while  the  school  assumes  the 
function  of  interpreting  this  practical  experience  in  terms  of  the 
theories  and  principles  that  underlie  successful  engineering  practice. 

Schools  of  law  have  never  seriously  grappled  with  the  problem 
of  field-work  training.  Their  course  of  study  is  intended  to 
acquaint  students  with  the  principles  of  law  rather  than  with  the 
technique  of  legal  practice.  Some  attention  is  given  to  the  latter 
in  the  moot  courts  common  in  some  law  schools,  and  law  students 
are  sometimes  encouraged  to  get  practice  work  with  legal-aid 
societies  or  in  law  offices,  but  in  general  the  acquirement  of  skill  in 
the  practice  of  law  is  regarded  as  something  that  should  follow 
instead  of  form  a  part  of  the  law  course. 

In  the  training  of  teachers,  opportunities  for  students  to  teach 
under  supervision  have  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  necessity.  In 
some  cases  this  is  carried  on  by  special  arrangements  with  the 
pubhc  schools  where  the  students  have  the  advantage  of  familiar- 
izing themselves  with  the  routine  of  the  schoolroom  under  actual 


62  EDUCATION  'FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

working  conditions.  Another  plan  usually  preferred  by  profes- 
sional schools  of  education  is  to  have  these  practice  schools  under 
the  direct  control  of  those  responsible  for  the  training  of  the 
teachers.  It  is  very  evident  that  this  gives  greater  freedom  in 
working  out  experimental  methods  and  makes  it  possible  to  have 
the  proper  control  over  those  who  supervise  the  practice  work. 

The  experience,  therefore,  of  professional  schools  in  providing 
practical  training  faciHties  for  their  students  has  by  no  means 
followed  the  same  lines.  The  administrative  problems  vary  with 
the  type  of  field  work  to  such  an  extent  that  it  may  never  be 
possible  to  work  out  uniform  methods  of  procedure  that  would  be 
appHcable  to  all  professional  schools. 

The  important  thing  as  far  as  schools  of  social  work  are  con- 
cerned, is  to  keep  clearly  in  mind  the  educational  requirements  of 
field-work  training  and  then  recognize  that  methods  of  fulfilhng 
these  requirements  must  be  determined  by  local  conditions  and 
circumstances.  The  minimum  requirements  of  field  work  stand 
out  clearly  in  the  definition  formulated  by  the  Committee  on  Field 
Work  of  the  Association  of  Urban  Universities  at  the  annual  meeting 
of  this  Association  in  New  York  in  1917.  According  to  this  com- 
mittee, field  work  "includes  the  activities  of  students  in  the  perform- 
ance of  tasks  of  everyday  Kfe  under  actual  conditions  which  may 
be  accepted  and  directly  related  to  concurrent  class  work."  The 
two  most  fundamental  things  that  determine  the  educational  value 
of  field  work  are  the  participation  in  tasks  under  actual  working 
conditions  and  the  proper  correlation  of  these  tasks  so  that  they  fit 
into  a  systematic  course  of  training.  It  is  conceivable  that  these 
two  requirements  may  be  met  by  different  methods  of  field-work 
administration.  There  is  no  inherent  reason  why  a  social  agency 
that  has  been  requested  to  furnish  field-work  training  for  students 
should  not  do  this  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  The  acceptance  of 
such  responsibihty  is  by  no  means  incompatible  with  a  sound  admin- 
istration of  their  work.    As  a  matter  of  fact  the  giving  of  such 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  63 

training  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  regular  duties  of  a  well- 
equipped  organization.  If  their  personnel  is  sufficient  and  willing  to 
co-operate  with  the  school,  students  working  under  their  direction 
ought  to  receive  training  of  high  quality. 

On  the  other  hand  it  should  be  possible  for  the  schools  of  social 
w6rk  to  build  up  training  facilities  under  their  own  management 
and  direction.  A  school  properly  equipped  with  field-work  super- 
visors might  very  well  choose  suitably  located  communities  where 
some  phase  of  social  work  was  needed  and  develop  in  those  com- 
munities activities  in  which  the  students  could  participate.  The 
university  schools  of  social  work  that  are  located  in  places  where 
social  agencies  of  high  grade  do  not  exist  may  find  that  the  estab- 
lishment of  these  training  centers  is  the  best  method  of  providing 
certain  kinds  of  field  work  for  their  students.  Under  the  direction 
of  a  field-work  supervisor  a  small  group  of  students  could  make  the 
first  beginning  of  a  training  center  in  an  unorganized  community 
by  making  a  study  of  its  social  needs  and  resources  preparatory  to 
a  determination  of  the  program  of  work  that  is  to  be  undertaken. 
The  different  projects  determined  upon  would  then  furnish  training 
opportunities  for  succeeding  classes  working  under  the  field  super- 
visor who  would  accept  responsibility  for  the  work  that  was  done. 
In  order  to  avoid  the  gaps  in  the  work  caused  by  school  vacations 
and  to  give  the  field  supervisor  necessary  assistance  in  training  the 
students,  graduate  fellowships  could  be  provided  which  would  carry 
with  them  the  obligation  to  serve  as  assistants  in  the  training 
center.  It  is  probable  that  as  this  community  work  develops  and 
the  interest  of  the  people  is  aroused  the  time  will  come  when  the 
community  will  desire  to  carry  on  its  activities  independent  of 
the  university.  When  this  occurs,  the  university  will  have  lost 
control  of  its  training  center,  but  will  have  available  a  social  agency 
which  will  still  offer  opportunities  to  students  for  practice  work. 

Such  university  training  centers  would  only  in  exceptional 
instances   provide   all   the  field-work   training   of   students.     In 


64  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

order  to  provide  a  well-rounded  training  the  schools  of  social  work 
ought  to  make  it  possible  for  students  to  familiarize  themselves 
with  the  work  of  the  best-equipped  social  agencies  both  public 
and  private.  The  various  social  agencies  would  still  be  needed 
by  the  school,  but  they  could  be  used  as  supplementary  to  the 
university  training  center.  Much  of  the  preliminary  and  funda- 
mental training  could  be  given  by  the  school  directly  under  its 
own  auspices,  while  the  different  agencies  would  still  be  called 
upon  to  provide  students  with  experience  in  specific  types  of  work. 
At  the  present  time  the  development  of  these  training  centers 
under  the  direction  of  schools  of  social  work  is  still  in  the 
experimental  stage.  The  experience  of  the  Red  Cross  in  its 
home-service  institutes  during  and  especially  since  the  war  is  a 
good  example  of  one  of  the  attempts  that  has  been  made  to  give 
the  school  control  over  its  field-work  training.  In  several  of  the 
institutes  held  in  the  largest  cities  the  home-service  section  pro- 
vided the  institute  supervisors  with  a  separate  office  and  permitted 
them  to  choose  from  among  the  active  cases  those  that  seemed  most 
desirable,  from  a  teaching  point  of  view,  for  the  students  to  handle. 
For  these  cases  the  institute  supervisors  were  given  the  same 
responsibiHty  that  would  be  given  a  district  secretary  and,  since 
they  had  power  to  choose  suitable  cases  and  to  limit  the  number 
they  would  attempt  to  handle,  it  was  possible  to  give  careful 
instruction  in  technique  and  to  insist  upon  thoroughgoing  work 
in  a  way  that  could  hardly  have  been  done  by  the  Home  Service 
Section  itself  with  its  heavy  pressure  of  work  and  frequently 
inadequate  staff.  In  those  sections  of  the  country  where  high 
social-work  standards  had  not  yet  been  attained  a  modification 
of  this  same  method  made  it  possible  to  give  the  students  good 
field-work  training.  During  the  period  of  the  Institute,  the  Insti- 
tute supervisors  would  be  placed  practically  in  charge  of  one  or 
more  Home  Service  offices  in  small  cities  or  towns,  thus  giving 
them  an  opportunity  personally  to  give  the  students  good  ins  true- 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  65 

tion  in  case  work  and  office  routine  regardless  of  what  may  have 
been  the  standards  of  those  offices  prior  to  the  holding  of  the 
training  course. 

While  this  plan  for  Home  Service  training  involved  obvious 
administrative  problems  and  owed  a  considerable  measure  of  its 
success  to  the  co-operative  spirit  growing  out  of  the  war  situation 
it  at  least  indicates  how  the  school's  control  of  its  training  faciHties 
helps  to  overcome  the  handicap  of  lack  of  access  to  well-equipped 
social  agencies.  If  schools  of  social  work  are  located  near  com- 
munities where  social  problems  exist  in  sufficient  variety,  and 
maintain  a  staff  of  competent  field-work  supervisors,  there  is  no 
reason  why  they  should  not  be  able  to  develop  the  training  facilities 
they  need.  This  assumption  by  the  school  of  social  work  of 
greater  responsibiHty  for  the  students'  field-work  training  is  in 
accord  with  sound  teaching  policy  and  marks  out  a  method  of  pro- 
cedure which  seems  likely  to  be  more  generally  followed  in  the  future. 

Another  important  problem  of  field-work  training  is  how  to 
bring  about  its  proper  correlation  with  the  classroom  instruction. 
At  what  time  in  the  course  should  field  work  begin?  Can  field 
work  be  carried  on  satisfactorily  by  students  whose  time  is  partly 
occupied  by  classroom  lectures  and  study?  Is  it  possible  to  plan 
the  practice  work  with  the  social  agencies  so  that  it  will  run  parallel 
with  the  courses  of  instruction  given  at  the  school? 

The  general  attitude  of  the  schools  of  social  work  to  this 
fundamental  problem  has  been  that  field  work  must  be  carried  on 
concurrently  with  classroom  instruction.  The  first  important  chal- 
lenge to  this  point  of  view  was  made  by  the  Smith  College  Train- 
ing School  for  Social  Work  which  was  established  in  1918.  In  a 
recent  bulletin  of  this  School  its  position  in  regard  to  the  place 
of  field  work  in  the  curriculum  is  set  forth  and  defended  as  follows; 

The  Smith  CoUege  Training  School  for  Social  Work  is  a  graduate  profes- 
sional school  offering  work  that  falls  into  three  divisions:  a  summer  session  of 
eight  weeks  of  theoretical  instruction,  combined  with  clinical  observation;  a 


66  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

training  period  of  nine  months'  practical  instruction  carried  on  in  co-operation 
with  hospitals  and  settlements;    and  a  concluding  summer  session  of  eight 

weeks  of  advanced  study 

The  method  of  continuous  practice  is  believed  by  the  sponsors  of  the  school 
to  afford  the  best  practical  training.  To  become  completely  assimilated  into 
the  organization,  the  student  must  give  full  time  to  the  work.  To  obtain  the 
richest  possible  experience,  the  student  should  be  on  duty  regularly  and  with- 
out interruption.  In  our  opinion,  practice  work  with  social  cases  and  social 
conditions  can  not  be  carried  on  satisfactorily  with  intensive  instruction,  since 
it  is  not  possible  to  regulate  human  problems,  §o  that  experience  will  nm  parallel 
with  theoretical  instruction.  There  is  great  value  for  drill  and  discipline  as 
well  as  depth  of  experience  in  the  uninterrupted  practice  and  in  the  continuity 
of  theoretical  study  which  the  present  plan  provides. 

While  this  abrupt  departure  from  traditional  methods  was 
doubtless  influenced  somewhat  by  the  fact  that  the  location  of 
the  school  in  a  small  town  made  the  usual  type  of  field  work  not 
readily  accessible,  the  experiment  is  of  sufficient  significance  to 
deserve  careful  attention.  Whatever  one  may  think  of  the  solu- 
tion arrived  at,  it  represents  an  effort  to  escape  the  difficulties 
faced  by  those  who  insist  that  field-work  and  classroom  instruction 
must  always  go  hand  in  hand.  Because  of  the  complex  nature  of 
the  social  problems  dealt  with,  it  is  by  no  means  easy  to  assign 
the  students  definite  tasks  that  will  illustrate  step  by  step  the 
subjects  discussed  in  the  different  courses.  And  unless  correlation 
of  the  field  work  and  classroom  work  is  achieved  to  this  extent 
there  is  a  tendency  to  regard  them  as  two  separate  activities,  each 
invaluable  but  only  in  a  limited  measure  fitting  into  a  unified 
program.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  since  field  work  brings  the  students 
face  to  face  with  social  problems  of  absorbing  interest  that  demand 
an  immediate  solution  and  that  direct  attention  to  methods  appli- 
cable to  a  particular  situation,  students  are  more  Hkely  to  under- 
estimate the  value  of  wider  study  of  the  whole  problem  than  to 
regard  this  field  work  as  an  interpretation  of  the  problems  that 
have  already  been  discussed  in  the  classroom. 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  67 

Furthermore,  the  ten  or  fifteen  hours  a  week  that  it  is  possible 
to  give  to  field  work  when  carried  on  concurrently  with  class  work 
are  hardly  sufficient  to  enable  the  student  to  do  much  constructive 
work.  The  agency  in  which  the  student  is  working  is  compelled 
to  assign  tasks  that  can  be  completed  in  the  limited  time  available. 
Very  important  types  of  field  work  may  need  to  be  omitted  entirely 
because  they  require  consecutive  effort  which  the  student  cannot 
give.  When  the  student's  time  is  divided  between  field  work 
and  classroom  lectures  and  assigned  readings,  it  becomes  a  diffi- 
cult problem  for  him  to  feel  himself  a  part  of  the  social  agency 
to  which  he  is  assigned  and  to  have  a  sense  of  responsibility  for  the 
work  undertaken. 

The  existence  of  these  difficulties  in  the  way  of  concurrent 
field  and  class  work  has  been  recognized  by  the  schools  of  social 
work,  but  thus  far  the  Smith  College  Training  School  is  the  only 
one  that  has  attempted  such  a  radical  solution.  Several  schools  of 
social  work  have  gone  to  the  length  of  marking  out  definite  blocks 
of  time  covering  one  or  more  weeks  which  are  devoted  to  uninter- 
rupted field  work.  Such  an  arrangement  is  of  real  value  in  learn- 
ing techm'que,  and  provision  ought  always  to  be  made  for  such 
practice  periods  during  the  course  of  study.  The  Smith  College 
plan,  however,  goes  much  farther  than  this  and  is  open  to  the 
serious  criticism  that  it  places  classroom  instruction  and  field 
work  in  separate  compartments  which  have  only  in  a  remote 
way  any  vital  relation  to  each  other.  Field  work  of  certain  kinds 
may  be  incompatible  with  class  instruction  and  intensive  study 
if  carried  on  concurrently,  and  field  work  designed  for  certain  pur- 
poses may  very  well  be  segregated  in  a  way  that  will  give  an 
opportunity  for  continuous  practice,  but  this  does  not  justify 
the  failure  to  accompany  the  class  instruction  with  appropriate 
kinds  of  field  work  that  would  give  the  students  first-hand  knowl- 
edge of  social  problems  and  of  the  methods  most  commonly  used 
in  dealing  with  them. 


68  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

It  will  probably  take  a  great  deal  more  careful  study  and 
experimentation  before  a  satisfactory  decision  is  reached  in  regard 
to  these  fundamental  field-work  problems.  Doubtless  consider- 
able confusion  has  been  caused  by  the  tendency  to  regard  field 
work  as  primarily  practice  work  with  a  social  agency  for  the 
purpose  of  learning  technique,  instead  of  thinking  of  it  in  its 
broader  meaning  as  including,  in  addition  to  the  practice  work,  par- 
ticipation in  social  research  and  investigation  and  working  on  prob- 
lems designed  to  illustrate  the  principles  discussed  in  the  classroom. 

Technical  courses  of  instruction  ought  always  to  be  accompanied 
by  their  appropriate  field  work,  regarded  as  an  inseparable  part  of 
the  course  and  supervised  by  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  con- 
tent of  the  class  instruction.  Field  work  of  this  kind  carried  on 
concurrently  with  class  instruction  need  not  have  as  its  chief  pur- 
pose the  acquirement  of  skill  through  work  experience.  It  may 
even  be  questioned  whether  students  ought  to  be  expected  to  gain 
their  technique  in  this  piecemeal  fashion.  This  part  of  their  train- 
ing may  possibly  be  carried  out  more  satisfactorily  by  uninterrupted 
practice  work  under  conditions  that  would  familiarize  them  with 
office  routine  and  compel  them  to  accept  responsibiUty  for  the  work 
assigned  them.  The  field  work  that  should  accompany  class  instruc- 
tion should  be  planned  with  direct  reference  to  the  content  of  the 
course.  Its  purpose  is  similar  to  that  of  the  field  work  in  a  course 
in  botany  or  geology  or  any  other  scientific  study.  To  be  of  edu- 
cational value  it  must  fit  step  by  step  into  the  subject-matter  of  the 
course  and  for  this  reason  cannot  readily  be  relegated  to  a  social 
agency.  It  has  been  the  failure  to  work  out  this  close  correlation 
between  the  class  instruction  and  the  field  work  that  has  brought 
about  the  unfortunate  and  illogical  distinction  between  theoretical 
courses  and  practical  work. 

Courses  of  study  worthy  of  a  place  in  a  professional  school  ought 
to  be  theoretical  only  in  the  sense  that  all  work  whether  done  in 
class  or  in  the  field  seeks  to  test  out  theories  and  formulate  princi- 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  69 

pies  and  devise  methods  for  the  purpose  of  attaining  increasingly- 
better  results.  Field  work  is  one  part  of  the  process  by  which  these 
results  are  achieved.  Its  contribution,  however,  cannot  be  best 
made  by  simply  delegating  to  it  the  burden  of  providing  the  prac- 
tical side  of  the  training  of  social  workers.  As  long  as  we  hold  to 
this  idea  of  field  work,  we  have  made  little  progress  beyond  the 
apprenticeship  stage  of  training.  Education  for  social  work  should 
be  carried  on  by  means  of  courses  that  include  field  work  designed 
to  make  their  subject-matter  vital  and  concrete  and  of  such  a 
nature  that  this  field  work  is  not  inconsistent  with  intensive  and 
thorough  study. 

In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  remind  ourselves  that  the  gradu- 
ates of  a  school  for  social  work  cannot  be  expected  to  have  ac- 
quired the  technical  skill  that  comes  only  through  long  practice. 
Much  of  the  confusion  in  regard  to  the  place  of  field  work  in  the 
curriculum  has  been  caused  by  the  tendency  to  give  technique  an 
emphasis  inconsistent  with  adequate  attention  to  other  aspects  of 
professional  training.  A  study  of  the  curriculum  of  schools  of  social 
work  leaves  the  impression  that  in  spite  of  the  advance  made  within 
recent  years,  they  still  follow  out  closely  the  methods  of  apprentice 
training.  The  field  work  that  is  given  a  central  place  in  the  cur- 
riculum from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  course  of  study  is 
primarily  practice  work  with  social  agencies  for  the  purpose  of 
gaining  familiarity  with  their  technique  and  methods  of  work. 

In  arriving  at  a  critical  estimate  of  this  method  of  training,  help 
can  be  gained  by  reference  to  the  procedure  in  medical  education 
which  has  so  much  in  common  with  education  for  social  work.  The 
medical  school  arranges  its  courses  of  study  in  four  main  divisions 
and  gives  them  in  the  following  order:  (1)  physiology,  (2)  pa- 
thology, (3)  therapeutics,  (4)  hospital  experience.  In  the  first  part  of 
the  course  emphasis  is  placed  upon  a  knowledge  of  the  structure  and 
functions  of  the  human  body,  followed  by  a  study  of  its  diseases 
and  abnormahties.    In  order  to  do  this  adequately,  the  appropriate 


70  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

sciences  are  called  into  requisition  and  the  laboratory  is  exten- 
sively used.  It  is  only  in  the  latter  part  of  the  course  that  the 
student  is  expected  to  devote  much  time  to  clinical  experience.  By 
means  of  this  clinical  stiidy  and  practice  the  student  gains  famili- 
arity with  the  methods  followed  in  the  diagnosis  and  treatment  of 
disease  and  with  the  procedure  of  the  operating  room,  but  this  is 
not  regarded  as  sufficient  equipment  for  successful  practice.  His 
graduation  from  the  medical  school  is  supposed  to  be  followed  by  a 
year  of  hospital  experience  where,  under  the  most  favorable  aus- 
pices, he  can  devote  his  whole  time  to  the  practice  of  his  profession. 
Education  in  social  work  should  also  proceed  in  this  orderly  and 
logical  way.  Beginning  with  a  study  of  the  structure  and  functions 
of  society,  with  emphasis  upon  social  research,  the  students  should 
be  led  gradually  into  the  field  of  social  pathology,  where  they  will 
study  the  methods  of  dealing  with  problems  arising  out  of  social 
maladjustments  and  abnormal  conditions.  Here  the  clinical  field 
work  may  well  begin,  and  no  more  should  be  expected  of  it  than  is 
expected  of  the  clinics  attended  by  the  medical  student.  Famili- 
arity should  be  gained  with  methods  of  social  diagnosis  and  treat- 
ment and  there  should  be  opportunity  for  a  Hmited  amount  of 
practice  with  the  routine  work  of  different  kinds  of  social  agencies. 
But  the  acquirement  of  skill  that  comes  through  considerable  work 
experience  must  be  left  to  the  social-work  interneship  that  should 
follow  the  course  of  study  offered  by  a  school  of  social  work.  Only 
in  exceptional  cases  should  the  graduate  of  a  school  of  social  work 
be  considered  ready  for  a  position  of  independent  responsibility.  It 
should  become  as  common  as  it  now  is  in  the  medical  profession  for 
the  social-work  graduate  to  undergo  an  apprenticeship  of  varying 
length  in  his  chosen  field  where  under  favorable  conditions  he  can 
acquire  professional  skill.  When  this  comes  to  be  regarded  as  the 
accepted  procedure  to  follow,  it  will  be  possible  to  give  field  work 
its  proper  place  in  the  course  of  study  and  to  plan  a  more  thor- 
oughgoing training  course  than  can  now  be  done. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  SOCIAL-WORK  LABORATORY 

The  practice  work  with  social  agencies,  which  has  been  the 
dominating  type  of  field  work  in  training  courses  for  social  workers, 
is  sometimes  compared  with  the  clinical  experience  of  medical 
students.  If  this  analogy  is  permissible  (and  it  certainly  is  in  a 
general  way)  the  question  at  once  arises  as  to  the  advisability  of 
using  this  type  of  field  work  in  the  early  part  of  the  training  course. 
Is  it  sound  educational  procedure  to  launch  students  out  on  their 
training  course  in  social  work  by  giving  them  field  work  with  a 
social  agency  where  they  will  almost  at  once  become  involved  in 
problems  of  social  treatment? 

On  the  other  hand  where  can  students  get  an  introduction  to 
social  problems  that  surpasses  that  gained  through  work  with  so- 
cial agencies?  There  can  be  no  social-work  laboratory  comparable 
to  the  bacteriological  or  physiological  laboratory  where  social  prob- 
lems and  conditions  can  be  segregated,  apart  from  real  life,  and  made 
the  subject  of  various  experiments.  In  studying  the  social  effects 
of  bad  housing  or  of  unwholesome  family  hfe  we  cannot  use  methods 
comparable  to  those  employed  in  studying  a  tumor  removed  from  a 
diseased  body.  Data  concerning  these  social  problems  can  be 
gathered  together  and  utilized  for  the  purposes  of  social  research, 
but  even  this  may  not  be  of  great  value  as  a  preparation  for  clinical 
instruction  if  these  problems  are  dealt  with  in  an  abstract  way 
apart  from  their  original  setting.  The  laboratory  of  the  student  of 
social  work  cannot  be  built  up  in  the  seclusion  of  academic  walls. 
It  must  be  found  where  people  are  actively  engaged  in  trying  to  find 
a  solution  to  the  problems  of  human  association.  Since  social 
agencies  represent  organized  efforts  to  deal  with  the  problems  in 
which  social  workers  are  chiefly  interested  we  are  right  in  looking 
to  them  for  a  large  part  of  the  field  work  that  enters  into  the  training 

program. 

71 


72  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

But  this  conclusion  by  no  means  justifies  the  too-common 
failure  to  realize  the  necessity  for  field-work  activities  that  would 
constitute  a  logical  preparation  for  more  difficult  tasks  of  social 
organization  and  treatment.  While  it  is  not  possible  because  of  the 
nature  of  social  work  to  have  an  experimental  social-work  labora- 
tory where  beginning  students  could  get  their  first  experience  with- 
out elements  of  social  risk,  the  situation  could  at  least  be  partly 
met  by  differentiating  between  field  work  in  which  the  emphasis  is 
primarily  upon  social  facts  and  the  field  work  that  is  chiefly  inter- 
ested in  changing  social  conditions.  Broadly  speaking,  social  re- 
search and  social  treatment  represent  two  types  of  field  work  that 
might  be  for  practical  purposes  assigned  respectively  to  the  social- 
work  laboratory  and  the  social-work  clinic.  In  the  former,  em- 
phasis is  upon  field  work  which  involves  the  collection,  tabulation, 
and  interpretation  of  social  data.  This  of  course  is  by  no  means 
limited  to  an  analysis  of  second-hand  facts.  The  material  for 
study  should  be  secured  as  far  as  possible  by  actual  work  in  the 
field  which  would  give  a  first-hand  acquaintance  with  social 
conditions. 

The  social  work  clinic,  on  the  other  hand,  has  to  do  with  social 
adjustments.  Clinical  experience  involves  diagnosis  and  treat- 
ment. Its  emphasis  is  upon  people  and  the  solution  of  their  social 
problems  rather  than  upon  knowledge  of  social  facts.  While  as  a 
matter  of  course  it  must  continually  make  use  of  the  tools  of  social 
research  and  therefore  overlaps  somewhat  this  field,  its  purpose  is 
sufficiently  distinct  to  make  field-work  activities  of  this  type  stand 
out  as  a  separate  group. 

It  will  no  doubt  be  generally  agreed  that  the  social-work  labora- 
tory as  thus  defined  has  its  logical  beginning  in  the  field  work  that 
accompanies  the  undergraduate  courses  in  sociology.  Its  simpler 
activities,  designed  for  students  getting  their  first  introduction  to 
this  field,  should  illustrate  normal  social  relationships  and  social 
institutions  instead  of  drawing  attention  to  the  more  striking  facts 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  73 

of  social  pathology.  Even  fairly  mature  students  may  have  diffi- 
culty in  visualizing  social  relationships  and  for  this  reason  laboratory 
work  may  very  well  begin  with  the  use  of  such  simple  devices  as 
diagrams  drawn  by  students  illustrating  their  social  contacts,  the 
sources  of  food  supply  of  a  city,  and  the  social  forces  of  a  com- 
munity. Carefully  directed  visits  should  be  made  to  the  most 
common  social  institutions  that  have  to  do  with  the  daily  normal 
life  of  the  community.  Students'  knowledge  of  these  institutions 
is  Kkely  to  be  very  superficial  and  they  can  secure  in  this  way 
training  in  methods  of  observation  and  study  of  social  institutions 
which  students  should  possess  before  being  brought  into  contact 
with  agencies  deahng  with  abnormal  conditions.  Illustrative  ma- 
terial should  be  collected  from  the  available  written  sources  so  that 
students  become  familiar  with  methods  of  finding  and  utilizing  the 
data  in  this  field.  Especially  valuable  are  the  tabulation  and  the 
graphical  presentation  of  material  that  form  the  laboratory  work  of 
courses  in  statistics.  As  soon  as  courses  in  social  pathology  are 
taken  up  there  will  be  need  for  investigation  involving  field  study 
of  the  social  problems  discussed  in  the  classroom.  This  to  a  certain 
extent  can  be  carried  on  in  connection  with  social  agencies  but  it 
need  not  be  hmited  to  the  facilities  they  have  to  offer.  The  uni- 
versity ought  to  maintain  independently  its  own  arrangements  for 
different  types  of  field  studies  adapted  to  the  needs  of  students  in 
the  various  courses  that  are  presented.  In  this  way  the  university 
is  not  only  making  available  properly  correlated  field  work  for  its 
undergraduate  students  in  sociology,  but  is  laying  a  secure  foundation 
for  the  work  of  the  graduate  students  in  the  field  of  social  research. 
Graduate  schools  of  social  work  ought  to  be  lable  to  take  for 
granted  that  the  students  who  apply  for  admission  have  been  trained 
in  laboratory  work  of  the  t3^es  that  have  just  been  outlined.  Un- 
fortunately by  no  means  all  of  them  have  been  so  trained.  College 
graduates  who  decide  to  enter  schools  of  social  work  have  not  always 
made  social  science  their  major  subject  or  they  may  have  studied 


74  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

in  institutions  where  the  equipment  in  this  field  was  very  meager. 
When  we  include  also  those  who  for  one  reason  or  another  are 
admitted  Jto  graduate  schools  of  social  work  without  a  college 
degree,  it  is  evident  that  a  considerable  proportion  of  their  students 
have  not  had  even  elementary  laboratory  experience  in  the  field  in 
which  they  wish  to  specialize. 

It  certainly  is  not  in  accord  with  the  best  educational  procedure 
to  plunge  students  who  lack  this  prehminary  training  into  field  work 
with  social  agencies  where  the  students'  attention  is  directed  at 
once  to  problems  of  social  treatment.  Miss  Edith  Abbott  in  a 
recent  discussion  of  the  field  work  of  the  Chicago  School  of  Civics 
and  Philanthropy  describes  in  the  following  manner  the  difficult 
tasks  that  confront  students  who  are  assigned  field  work  with 
family  welfare  agencies: 

I  have  already  pointed  out  that  "case-work"  is  the  backbone  of  all  our  field 
work  training.  In  this  work  the  student  is  brought  face  to  face  with  the  deep, 
inevitable,  heart-searching  and  heart-breaking  problems  of  human  life — the 
problem  of  the  deserting  husband  and  the  deserted  wife,  the  feeble-minded 
child,  the  problem  of  parents  immoral  and  degenerate  beyond  any  thinking,  the 
problem  of  homes  so  degraded  in  their  filth  that  they  can  hardly  be  discussed. 
Not  only  must  these  problems  of  low  living  be  dealt  with,  but  there  remain 
the  even  more  difficult  questions  of  what  to  do  with  the  kindly  and  affectionate 
but  weak-willed  and  drunken  father,  the  well-meaning  but  incompetent  and 
subnormal  mother;  the  social  worker  must  face  them  all,  "hunger,  drunken- 
ness, brutality,  and  crime"  and  all  the  manifold  problems  of  depravity  and 
distress.^ 

Miss  Abbott  arrives  at  the  very  sound  conclusion  that  field  work 
of  this  t3^e  is  not  suitable  for  the  immature  undergraduate  who  can 
give  only  a  few  hours  of  his  time  a  week  to  the  social  agency  direct- 
ing his  work.  In  view  of  the  complex  nature  of  the  social  problems 
described  it  would  seem  justifiable  to  go  a  step  farther  and  conclude 
that  such  field  work  does  not  constitute  the  most  logical  beginning 
of  the  training  course  of  even  the  professional  student.     This  con- 

^  Miss  Edith  Abbott,  Field  Work  Training  with  Social  Agencies.  In  report  of 
Committee  on  Field  Work  of  the  Association  of  Urban  Universities,  at  New  York,  1917. 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  75 

elusion  of  course  is  directly  contrary  to  the  traditional  procedure 
of  the  schools  of  social  work  which  have  not  only  made  case  work 
the  ^'backbone"  of  their  field-work  training,  but  have  regarded  it 
as  the  first  step  toward  an  understanding  of  social  problems.  The 
Pennsylvania  School  for  Social  Service  has  recently  decided  to  give 
even  more  than  usual  emphasis  to  this  field  work  in  the  beginning 
of  their  training  course.  According  to  their  plan  the  course  begins 
with  a  seven  weeks'  field-work  period  with  the  Society  for  Organ- 
izing Charity  in  which  the  full  time  of  the  student  is  divided 
between  field  work  (including  group  and  individual  conferences  with 
the  supervisors  of  field  work)  and  the  class  in  social  case  work. 

To  take  the  place  of  this  early  emphasis  upon  clinical  work,  the 
suggestion  is  here  made  that  following  the  custom  in  medical 
schools,  field  work  of  the  laboratory  type  should  be  utilized  as  the 
introductory,  practical  work  of  the  training  course.  It  is  not  con- 
tended that  the  usual  laboratory  work  in  connection  with  the 
undergraduate  courses  in  sociology,  is  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
students  beginning  their  professional  course.  The  exact  nature  of 
the  field-work  activities  that  should  be  included  within  this  social- 
work  laboratory  would  be  determined  partly  by  the  location  of  the 
school  and  the  branches  of  social  work  in  which  it  desired  to 
specialize. 

In  general  the  use  of  social  data  found  in  pamphlets,  reports,  and 
periodicals  would  constitute  the  first  part  of  such  laboratory  work. 
Material  bearing  upon  a  definite  problem  can  be  collected  from  avail- 
able written  sources,  tabulated  and  illustrated  by  means  of  graphs, 
diagrams,  or  maps.  Family  case  records  and  records  of  community 
work  can  be  studied  and  analyzed  for  the  purpose  of  throwing  light 
on  the  social  problems  with  which  they  deal.  The  social-work 
laboratory  should  have  its  own  collection  of  case  records,  but  these 
ought  to  be  supplemented  if  possible  by  getting  access  to  the  files 
of  social  agencies  where  thoroughgoing  studies  can  be  made  of 
specific  problems. 


76  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

As  a  next  step  the  students  can  carry  on  similar  studies  of 
material  secured  through  their  own  field  work.  In  making  these 
field  studies  the  emphasis  should  be  upon  acquiring  a  knowledge  of 
the  community  rather  than  upon  the  discovery  of  means  for  its 
improvement.  Furthermore,  the  knowledge  sought  is  not  merely 
facts  that  easily  lend  themselves  to  statistical  tabulation.  Students 
should  be  trained  to  analyze  a  community  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  habits  and  customs  of  the  people,  their  mental  attitudes  and 
sentiments,  and  their  reactions  to  their  environment.  Out  of  such 
study  should  come  not  merely  a  fundamental  knowledge  of  com- 
munity problems;  the  student  should  also  acquire  a  mind  trained 
to  see  and  appraise  properly  the  essential  facts  that  determine  the 
nature  and  quahty  of  community  fife. 

The  question  may  be  raised  as  to  the  possibihty  of  using  a  com- 
munity for  such  a  purpose  year  after  year.  The  school  located  in 
a  large  city  would  not  be  seriously  troubled  by  this  problem  because 
of  the  immense  number  of  neighborhoods  within  the  city  and 
adjacent  territory.  Even  in  the  smaller  communities  there  ought 
to  be  no  serious  difficulty  because  the  field  studies  are  by  no  means 
thoroughgoing  surveys  designed  to  expose  the  weaknesses  of  com- 
munity life.  The  studies  need  not  always  involve  a  house  to  house 
canvas  or  the  securing  of  information  from  public  officials.  The 
important  thing  is  to  have  a  proper  approach  to  the  community 
either  through  an  understanding  with  the  people  or  through  an 
assignment  of  work  to  the  students  that  is  recognized  as  necessary 
by  the  pubHc.  The  Massachusetts  State  College  of  Agriculture 
secured  field  work  for  its  students  by  frankly  telKng  the  farmers 
in  the  vicinity  that  the  students  needed  practical  field-work  train- 
ing and  by  asking  them  to  consider  their  communities  as  a  part  of  the 
college  laboratory.  The  students  in  the  School  of  PubHc  Welfare 
of  the  University  of  North  CaroHna  gained  access  to  the  communi- 
ties they  wished  to  study  by  being  appointed  school  enumerators. 
If  care  and  tact  are  used,  this  part  of  the  social-work  laboratory 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  77 

ought  to  offer  increased  facilities  for  field  work  as  experience  is 
gained  in  making  them  available. 

The  amount  of  time  that  should  be  given  to  field  work  of  this 
kind  must  depend  to  a  large  extent  upon  the  length  of  the  training 
course  and  the  intellectual  and  practical  equipment  of  the  students. 
It  would  seem  hardly  possible  to  give  the  average  student  even 
elementary  training  in  social  research  in  less  than  three  or  four 
months  of  classroom  study  and  field  work.  In  this  period  of  time 
he  ought  to  have  acquired  a  point  of  view  and  a  habit  of  mind  that 
would  enable  him  to  grasp  more  quickly  the  technique  needed  in 
his  cHnical  work.  His  experience  in  social  research  would  of  course 
not  cease  at  this  point.  It  would  be  inextricably  bound  up  with 
all  his  later  field  work  no  matter  in  which  branch  of  social  work 
he  decides  to  specialize.  And  because  of  the  emphasis  upon  training 
in  methods  of  social  research  at  the  beginning  of  his  course  he  is 
in  a  better  position  to  gain  a  clear  insight  into  the  social  problems 
with  which  he  must  deal  in  his  clinical  field  work. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  SOCIAL- WORK  CLINIC 

It  has  already  been  indicated  that  the  usual  types  of  field  work 
carried  on  in  connection  with  social  agencies  may  very  properly  be 
compared  with  the  clinical  experience  of  medical  students.  This 
practice  work  in  dealing  with  actual  problems  is  of  fundamental 
importance  in  professional  education.  It  is  a  commonplace  in 
education  that  training  is  secured,  not  by  looking  on,  but  by  doing. 
Education  for  social  work  requires  adequate  clinical  facilities  where 
students  closely  supervised  can  engage  in  tasks  under  conditions 
that  approximate  those  they  will  face  when  they  have  entered  upon 
their  professional  career.  The  emphasis  upon  academic  attain- 
ments or  upon  abihty  in  social  research  must  not  be  at  the  expense 
of  the  clinical  side  of  the  training  course.  Schools  of  social  work 
should  not  turn  out  graduates  whose  approach  to  social  problems 
is  primarily  academic.  Social  workers  are  expected  not  only  to 
understand  conditions,  but  to  practice  an  art. 

Their  training  must  be  regarded  as  entirely  inadequate  if  it 
has  not  given  them  famiHarity  with  the  technique  of  dealing  with 
social  problems.  A  high  degree  of  technical  skill,  of  course,  cannot 
be  insisted  upon.  This  can  come  only  through  a  much  longer  ex- 
perience than  can  be  gained  within  the  limits  of  a  training  course. 
But  the  graduates  must  have  a  more  thorough  equipment  in 
technique  than  can  be  acquired  by  a  passive  acquaintance  with  the 
work  of  social  agencies.  CUnical  experience,  which  involves  the 
active  participation  of  students  in  organized  efforts  to  deal  with 
social  problems  and  bring  about  their  solution  is  a  fundamental 
part  of  any  training  course  in  social  work. 

In  order  to  enable  students  to  engage  in  this  practice  work,  a 
social-work  clinic  must  be  available.  While  this  chnic  may,  of 
course,  vary  greatly  in  the  type  of  activity  that  is  undertaken,  case 

78 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  79 

work  has  quite  generally  been  looked  upon  as  the  most  appropriate 
and  fundamental  practice  work  for  students  of  social  work.  Tlie 
reasons  for  this  are  quite  obvious.  At  the  time  of  the  organization 
of  the  first  schools  of  social  work,  the  charity  organization  societies 
represented  one  of  the  most  aggressive  movements  in  the  social- 
work  field,  and  had  developed  a  case-work  technique  that  was  re- 
garded as  fundamental  in  dealing  with  individual  and  family  social 
problems.  Moreover,  graduates  of  schools  of  social  work  found 
their  most  available  opportunities  for  employment  with  case- work 
agencies  and  naturally  felt  the  need  of  specialization  in  this  field. 

But  the  emphasis  upon  clinical  experience  of  this  kind  cannot 
be  attributed  entirely  to  its  accessibility  or  to  the  demand  for 
workers  skilled  in  case  work.  Its  prominent  place  in  the  curricu- 
lum has  been  assured  by  the  fact  that  it  affords  a  ready  means  of 
teaching  concretely  the  scientific  method  of  approach  to  social 
problems.  Through  the  steps  that  must  be  taken  in  the  diagnosis 
of  a  family  situation,  and  the  following  out  of  the  plan  of  treatment 
decided  upon,  students  are  enabled  to  see  the  complex  nature  of 
social  problems  and  learn  how  to  deal  with  them  in  an  orderly 
and  systematic  way.  No  other  type  of  social  work  deals  with  a 
greater  variety  of  social  problems,  so  intermingled  and  compli- 
cated that  they  resist  routine  classification  and  compel  individual 
study  and  treatment.  Intensive  training  with  a  family  welfare 
agency  not  only  acquaints  students  with  a  technique  fundamental 
in  social  work,  but  brings  them  into  intimate  touch  with  the  social 
forces,  both  constructive  and  destructive,  that  enter  into  the  fabric 
of  our  social  life. 

To  such  an  extent  is  this  true,  that  students  are  likely  to 
find  themselves  out  of  their  depth  if  this  clinical  experience  comes 
too  early  in  their  course.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  past  experience 
has  shown  that  immature  students  in  the  case- work  field  frequently 
fail  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  unfamiliar  conditions  they  must 
face,  and,  as  a  consequence,  do  work  so  inferior  in  quahty  that  it  is 


8o  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

detrimental,  both  to  their  clients  and  to  the  agency  with  which 
they  are  working.  This  brings  up  the  question  as  to  the  advisa- 
biHty  of  making  case  work  the  first  introduction  to  clinical  experi- 
ence. It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  clinical  instruction 
should  ordinarily  be  preceded  by  social  research.  Is  it  possible 
to  go  a  step  farther  and  differentiate  between  types  of  cKnical 
work,  in  a  way  that  would  be  helpful  in  arranging  them  in  logical 
sequence? 

Besides  the  case- work  type  of  clinical  experience  which  has 
just  been  discussed,  the  social-work  clinic  should  include  at  least 
two  additional  types  of  activities — social  work  with  groups 
and  social  work  with  communities.  Social  work  with  groups  is  a 
type  of  field  work  that  has  been  very  commonly  furnished  by 
social  settlements  or  by  agencies  in  the  recreational  field.  It  in- 
cludes such  activities  as  organizing  and  conducting  boys'  and 
girls'  clubs,  experience  in  playground  supervision,  work  with 
immigrant  groups  involving  the  teaching  of  classes  in  English 
and  civics,  participation  in  the  work  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  Boy  Scouts, 
and  similar  organizations  that  specialize  in  group  activities; 
special  work  with  institutional  groups  in  hospitals,  asylums, 
reformatories,  etc. ;   and  certain  phases  of  industrial  welfare  work. 

The  third  type  of  clinical  work — social  work  with  communities, 
or  community  organization — has  to  do  with  the  social  welfare 
of  the  community  as  a  whole,  instead  of  with  that  of  particular 
families  or  groups  within  the  community.  While  coinmunity 
work  in  accordance  with  customary  usage  may,  and  frequently 
does,  include  activities  for  groups,  as  is  seen  in  the  work  of  social 
settlements,  playground  associations,  and  community  centers,  the 
two  types  of  work  employ  different  techniques  and  in  a  training 
course  should  be  considered  separately.  The  looseness  with  which 
the  term  "community"  is  now  used  makes  it  inevitable  that 
community  work  should  have  a  varied  meaning.     On  the  one  hand, 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  8i 

in  the  large  cities,  it  may  designate  the  work  of  settlements  and 
neighborhood  associations;  or  it  may  be  appKed  to  the  work  of 
federations  of  social  agencies  that  are  co-ordinating  the  various 
activities  of  separate  agencies  so  that  they  may  serve  best  the 
needs  of  the  whole  community  or  city;  or  again  it  may  take  the 
form  of  the  social  unit  organization,  with  its  special  machinery 
designed  to  utilize  the  abiHty  and  resources  of  the  people  them- 
selves in  meeting  their  own  problems.  These  city  types  of 
community  work  are  usually  quite  complex  and  involve  difficult 
problems  of  organization  and  administration. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  community  w^ork,  that  within  recent 
years  has  been  rapidly  developing  in  small  towns  and  rural  com- 
munities, deals  with  a  comparatively  small  social  imit  and  is  more 
simple  in  character.  In  some  cases,  a  single  organization,  such  as 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  or  the  Red  Cross,  adopts 
a  wide  community  program  and  furnishes  the  leadership  for  the 
work.  A  more  common  plan  is  to  form  a  communit}^  council 
composed  of  representative  people  who  study  the  situation  from 
the  community  point  of  view  and  endeavor  to  organize  the  various 
social  forces  so  that  they  may  be  utilized  to  the  greatest  advantage. 
In  any  event,  an  essential  thing  in  community  work  is  a  study  of 
the  resources  and  problems  of  the  community  in  order  to  ascertain 
facts  upon  which  to  build  a  satisfactory  program  of  work.  The 
program  itself  may  be  simple,  but  it  must  have  a  long  look  ahead 
and  include  all  the  vital  interests  of  the  community. 

Of  these  three  general  types  of  cHnical  activities  that  have  been 
mentioned,  social  work  with  groups  is  the  most  elementary.  It 
demands  sufficient  skill  to  justify  the  requirement  of  practice  work 
under  supervision,  but  it  approximates  so  closely  the  non-professional 
activities  in  the  social-work  field  with  which  students  are  usually 
famihar,  that  they  find  Httle  difficulty  in  adjusting  themselves  to 
the  group  work  assigned  them.  From  this  point  of  view,  it  would 
seem   that  social  work  with  groups  constitutes  an  appropriate 


82  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

activity  with  which  to  begin  clinical  experience.  The  experience  of 
schools  of  social  work,  however,  indicates  that  group  work  possesses 
too  little  educational  value  to  be  given  much  emphasis.  The  more 
simple  group  activities  may  very  properly  be  carried  on  as  field 
work  in  the  undergraduate  curriculum.  With  few  exceptions,  clini- 
cal work  with  groups  will  have  a  very  small  place  in  a  professional 
training  course,  except  in  so  far  as  it  fits  into  activities  in  connec- 
tion with  training  in  community  organization. 

The  question  then  to  be  decided  is  whether  clinical  practice 
should  begin  with  community  work  or  case  work.  Certainly  all 
would  agree  that  the  more  difficult  problems  of  community  organi- 
zation should  be  postponed  until  the  latter  part  of  the  course. 
Likewise,  case  work  with  families  involving  compHcated  situations 
is  field  work  suitable  only  for  more  mature  students.  Whichever 
precedes  in  the  course,  it  is  important  that  the  beginning  be  made 
with  comparatively  simple  situations  that  do  not  compel  the  student 
to  shoulder  heavy  responsibihty.  Since  case-work  with  families 
cannot  be  carried  on  without  a  great  deal  of  knowledge  of  com- 
munity resources  and  underlying  social  forces,  the  case-work  student 
is  compelled  to  study  his  community  in  connection  with  his  special 
work  with  family  problems.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  usual  conten- 
tion is  that,  through  this  family  work,  the  student  gains  a  more 
intelligent  grasp  of  community  problems  than  in  any  other  way. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  said  that  the  study  and  analysis  of 
the  resources  and  problems  of  a  small  community  (and,  upon  the 
basis  of  the  facts  secured,  the  development  of  a  community  program) 
comprise  field  work  that  will  give  a  better  perspective  to  students  of 
family  welfare,  as  well  as  furnish  them  with  knowledge  that  will 
faciUtate  their  deaHng  with  family  problems.  It  may  still  further 
be  argued  that  community  work  should  precede  because  it  deals 
chiefly  with  the  normal  elements  of  the  community,  whereas  case 
work  directs  attention  to  the  abnormal  and  pathological. 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  83 

In  any  event,  the  recent  development  of  social  work  in  small 
communities  has  made  available  for  cHnical  instruction  a  simple 
unit,  which  presents  to  students  an  unexcelled  opportunity  to  see  at 
work  in  more  simple  form  the  social  forces  that  are  hard  to  dis- 
entangle in  the  complex  Hfe  of  the  city.  The  fact  that  this  com- 
munity work  is  not  now  generally  accessible  does  not  justify  the 
little  attention  that  is  paid  to  it  in  schools  of  social  work.  Its  use- 
fulness has  already  been  demonstrated,  and  later  experience  will 
undoubtedly  point  out  its  proper  place  in  the  curriculum. 

The  activities  of  the  social-work  clinic  have  been  divided  into 
three  general  groups,  which,  broadly  speaking,  cover  the  tech- 
niques most  fundamental  in  social  work.  In  the  different  schools 
of  social  work,  there  will  be  considerable  variation  in  the  activities 
of  their  clinics,  depending  upon  the  availability  of  social  agencies 
or  the  abihty  of  the  school  to  provide  its  own  chnical  work.  Any 
school,  however,  that  desires  to  give  a  well-rounded  training  in 
social  work  must  be  able  to  give  the  students  practical  experience 
in  family,  group,  and  community  work.  A  working  knowledge  of 
the  techniques  in  these  three  fields  should  be  required  for  gradua- 
tion. 

If  this  is  made  the  minimum  requirement  of  clinical  work,  the 
curriculum  must  be  arranged  with  this  in  view.  Because  of  the 
time  consumed  by  field  work,  it  is  impracticable  to  have  students 
carry  two  field-work  courses  during  one  term.  When  we  take  into 
consideration  the  additional  time  needed  for  the  field  work  in  social 
research,  the  necessity  for  at  least  a  two-year  course  is  apparent. 
Even  in  that  period  of  time,  the  ground  could  not  be  adequately 
covered  unless  much  preliminary  work  had  been  completed  during 
the  regular  college  course.  The  best  solution  seems  to  be  the  five- 
year  undergraduate  and  graduate  course  which  will  make  feasible 
the  completion  of  the  academic  and  practical  work  in  a  thorough 
manner. 


84  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

But  even  in  the  best-arranged  curriculum,  there  cannot  be 
sufficient  chnical  experience  to  give  students  a  high  degree  of  skill 
in  the  special  field  they  choose.  Graduates  of  schools  of  social 
work,  just  as  graduates  of  other  professional  schools,  must  plan  to 
gain  skill  and  experience  by  serving  first  in  subordinate  positions. 
The  school  should  attempt  to  give  only  fundamental  training. 
Otherwise  the  curriculum  becomes  so  heavily  weighted  with  clinical 
experience  that  the  training  course  can  offer  few  advantages  beyond 
that  of  a  well-planned  apprenticeship. 

In  a  preceding  section,  attention  was  called  to  the  possibiKty 
of  a  school's  having  control  over  its  field-work  facihties.  As  far 
as  the  clinical  side  of  the  field  work  is  concerned,  it  will  in  many 
cases  be  found  more  convenient  to  utilize  the  established  social 
agencies.  Whatever  arrangement  may  be  made  for  clinical  prac- 
tice, it  is  essential  that  the  school  should  have  entire^  direction  of 
the  clinical  instruction.  The  traditional  method  of  securing  the 
chnical  staff  has  been  to  rely  largely  upon  the  services  of  workers 
employed  by  social  agencies.  This  has  been  justified  by  the  fact 
that  students  have  the  advantage  of  learning  their  technique 
from  persons  in  intimate  touch  with  the  methods  followed  in 
social  work. 

Directly  opposed  to  this  point  of  view  is  the  statement  of 
Dr.  Frankfurter,  quoted  above  in  another  connection,  in  which  he 
said:  ^'The  time  has  gone  by  when  the  teaching  of  any  profession 
can  be  entrusted  to  persons  who,  from  their  exacting  outside  work 
of  practice  or  administration,  give  to  teaching  their  tired  leavings." 
In  the  introduction  to  the  report  on  medical  education  in  Europe, 
issued  by  the  Carnegie  Foundation,  Dr.  Henry  S.  Pritchett,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Foundation,  emphasizes  this  same  point  as  it  applies 
to  the  instruction  of  medical  students.     Says  Dr.  Pritchett: 

It  has  come  to  be  generally  conceded  that  not  only  must  the  basic  sciences  of 
chemistry,  physics,  and  biology  be  taught  by  those  who  are  primarily  teachers 
and  who  give  their  whole  time  to  teaching  and  to  research,  but  also  that  the 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  85 

more  definitely  medical  sciences  of  anatomy,  physiology,  pathology,  and 
bacteriology  must  be  represented  by  specialists.  It  has  not  been  so  generally 
granted  that  the  clinical  teacher  must  also  be  primarily  a  man  who  devotes  his 
life  to  teaching  and  to  research.  This  reform  is  the  next  great  step  to  be  taken 
in  the  improvement  of  medical  education  in  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain.  In  Germany  only  has  it  heretofore  found  recognition,  and  to  this 
fact,  next  to  the  development  of  an  orderly  and  efl&cient  system  of  secondary 
schools,  is  to  be  attributed  the  high  level  of  German  medical  science  and 
medical  teaching.  With  the  more  general  acceptation  of  the  view  that  medical 
education  is  education,  not  a  professional  incident,  the  conception  of  the  clinical 
teacher  must  undergo  the  change  here  alluded  to.  The  teaching  of  clinical 
medicine  and  surgery  will  then  cease  to  be  a  side  issue  in  the  life  of  a  busy  prac- 
titioner; it  will  propose  to  itself  the  same  objects  and  conform  to  the  same 
standards  and  ideals  as  the  teaching  of  any  other  subject  of  equal  importance. 

In  the  field  of  education  for  social  work,  only  a  small  beginning 
has  been  made  in  providing  an  adequate  permanent  staff  to  have 
charge  of  the  clinical  instruction.  Usually  the  responsibility  for 
the  supervision  of  field  work  is  placed  upon  one  person,  who,  un- 
aided by  assistants,  is  compelled  to  turn  over  a  large  part  of  the 
practical  training  of  the  students  to  members  of  the  staffs  of  social 
agencies.  If  the  field  work  is  a  fundamental  part  of  the  course,  as 
is  generally  claimed,  it  would  seem  that  its  actual  supervision 
should  not  be  delegated  to  persons  who  are  only  indirectly  under 
the  control  of  the  school.  In  several  of  the  newer  university  schools 
of  social  work  located  in  places  where  skilled  social  workers  are  not 
employed,  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  maintain  their  own  staff 
of  field-work  supervisors.  While  this  is  a  new  departure  in  schools 
of  social  work,  it  is  a  step  in  Kne  with  the  best  procedure  in  other 
fields  of  professional  education. 


CHAPTER  IX 

RECENT  DEVELOPMENTS  IN  PREPARATION  FOR 
RURAL  SOCIAL  WORK 

The  country-life  movement  during  recent  years  has  been  char- 
acterized by  a  growing  tendency  to  lay  stress  upon  the  social  aspects 
of  life  in  rural  communities.  It  is  no  longer  believed  that  rural 
programs  are  serving  their  full  purpose  when  they  are  dealing  with 
the  problem  of  increased  production.  There  has  come  about,  partly 
as  an  aftermath  of  the  war,  a  more  general  recognition  of  the  social 
ills  of  the  countryside  which  are  retarding  its  steps  toward  economic 
progress.  The  rural  leader  must  know  more  than  how  to  make  the 
farm  more  productive;  he  must  know  how  to  make  community 
life  more  wholesome  and  attractive. 

This  new  emphasis  upon  rural  social  problems  has  necessarily 
drawn  attention  to  the  need  of  supplementing  the  usual  equipment 
of  rural  workers  such  as  farm  bureau  and  home  demonstration 
agents,  rural  school  teachers  and  rural  pubKc  health  nurses,  so 
that  they  will  enter  their  work  with  a  vision  of  its  social  possibilities 
and  be  famiHar  with  the  methods  common  to  social  work.  More- 
over, the  recent  experience  of  the  Red  Cross,  the  county  work  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  the  county  welfare  work  in 
North  Carolina,  as  well  as  that  of  other  agencies,  both  pubhc  and 
private,  have  demonstrated  that  there  is  a  real  opportum'ty  in  rural 
communities  for  leaders  who  are  prepared  to  give  their  whole  time 
to  problems  of  rural  organization  and  social  work. 

The  movement  to  provide  the  training  facilities  adapted  to  these 
needs  has  already  begun  to  take  definite  shape.  Universities  and 
agricultural  colleges  are  offering  courses  in  applied  sociology  in 
which  special  emphasis  is  given  to  methods  of  meeting  rural  social 
problems.  The  Springfield  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
Training  School  has  an  arrangement  with  the  Massachusetts  State 

86 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  87 

College  of  Agriculture,  whereby  students  in  preparation  for  county 
work  spend  one  year  in  the  study  of  rural  subjects  at  the  latter 
institution.  The  Boston  School  of  Social  Work  is  endeavoring  to 
work  out  a  similar  co-operative  plan  of  study  for  its  students  who 
desire  to  prepare  for  rural  social  work.  Several  colleges  and  uni- 
versities located  in  small  towns  are  co-operating  with  the  Red  Cross 
in  developing  training  courses  specially  designed  for  social  workers 
in  small  towns  and  rural  communities. 

It  is  but  natural  that  these  efforts  to  carry  on  training  courses 
outside  of  large  cities  should  be  regarded  with  considerable  mis- 
giving by  those  accustomed  to  look  to  the  city  for  field-work 
facilities.  A  legitimate  question  to  ask  is  whether  rural  and  village 
life  with  its  small  population,  its  difficulty  of  access  from  the  train- 
ing center,  the  small  number  of  cases  that  can  be  available  in  any 
particular  locality,  and  its  lack  of  well-equipped  social  agencies, 
can  be  made  to  furnish  a  satisfactory  training  ground  for  social 
workers.  While  the  burden  of  proof  must  rest  upon  those  who 
have  departed  from  th*e  traditional  methods,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  experimental  work  of  this  kind  requires  considerable  time  be- 
fore its  results  can  be  adequately  tested.  It  is  too  early  now  to 
draw  anything  more  than  tentative  conclusions  from  the  compara- 
tively few  significant  efforts  that  have  been  made  to  train  for  rural 
social  work. 

Without  doubt  the  recent  efforts  to  develop  rural  training  cen- 
ters have  grown  out  of  a  recognition  of  the  different  environments 
faced  by  rural  and  city  social  workers.  These  differences  in  envi- 
ronment of  course  affect  other  professional  groups,  although  not  as 
profoundly  as  they  do  those  whose  work  is  concerned  with  problems 
that  are  so  intimately  bound  up  with  the  social  and  economic  Hfe 
of  the  people.  The  rural  physician  will  not  have  convenient  access 
to  hospitals  and  speciaKsts  and  to  this  extent  he  will  be  handi- 
capped in  his  work,  but  the  technique  of  the  treatment  of  disease 
or  injury  does  not  need  to  be  modified  in  accord  with  social  customs 


88  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

or  conditions  of  living.  In  the  teaching  profession  the  value  of 
special  training  for  rural  teachers  is  more  apparent  and  fortunately 
is  now  quite  generally  recognized.  The  rural  school  cannot  attain 
its  highest  efhciency  unless  its  curriculum  and  methods  are  deter- 
mined by  the  needs  of  the  country  rather  than  by  those  of  the  city. 
Especially  significant  are  the  recent  efforts  to  provide  training 
courses  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  rural  ministry.  In  this  case  the 
purpose  in  view  is  not  merely  to  give  the  minister  a  practical 
knowledge  of  rural  problems  and  a  sympathetic  understanding  of 
the  habits  of  life  and  thought  of  rural  people;  it  is  also  to  develop 
a  love  for  the  country  and  to  give  such  a  vision  of  opportunities  for 
far-reaching  rural  service  that  it  would  not  be  regarded  as  a 
stepping-stone  to  a  city  pastorate. 

The  dearth  of  professional  men  and  women  in  small  towns  and 
rural  communities  who  look  upon  their  work  there  as  an  end  in 
itself  and  not  as  a  means  of  advancement  to  a  city,  has  been  one 
of  the  great  hindrances  to  rural  progress.  For  this  attitude  of 
mind  the  professional  schools  in  the  cities  are  largely  responsible, 
for,  either  consciously  or  unconsciously,  the  rural  students  acquire 
the  city  point  of  view  and  find  themselves  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
more  conservative  and  slow-moving  community  from  which  they 
came  and  where  they  had  expected  to  return  to  work. 

In  the  city  schools  of  social  work  this  acquirement  by  the 
students  of  city  ideals  seems  inevitable  and  is  especially  disastrous 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  development  of  rural  social  agencies. 
Social  workers  who  have  been  trained  in  a  city  where  well-equipped 
agencies  are  readily  accessible  have  reason  to  feel  lost  when  later 
they  accept  a  position  where  social  work  is  not  highly  organized. 
If  they  do  not  soon  become  discouraged  by  the  conditions  con- 
fronting them  and  feel  too  keenly  their  isolation  from  other  social 
workers,  they  are  likely  to  urge  the  adoption  of  methods  more 
applicable  to  the  city  than  to  the  small  town  and  thus  aUenate  the 
support  of  their  constituency. 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  89 

For  these  reasons  many  have  concluded  that  the  successful 
development  of  rural  social  work  is  dependent  upon  the  possibility 
of  establishing  rural  training  courses  that  will  definitely  prepare 
for  social  work  in  small  communities  and  give  such  a  vision  of  the 
opportunities  in  this  field  that  people  of  real  abihty  will  regard  it 
worth  while  to  become  rural  specialists. 

Possibly  the  first  serious  attempt  to  train  social  workers  in  a 
small  town  and  rural  environment  was  made  at  Berea  College, 
Kentucky,  in  1919.  This  course,  which  was  six  months  in  length, 
was  carried  on  by  the  College  in  co-operation  with  the  Red  Cross 
and  was  intended  to  prepare  home-service  workers  for  the  Red 
Cross  chapters  in  the  mountain  counties  of  Kentucky. 

For  this  experimental  training  course  in  rural  social  work  Berea 
College  was  admirably  adapted.  Located  in  a  small  village  on  the 
edge  of  the  foothills  that  lead  back  into  the  isolated  mountain 
regions,  it  had  within  easy  reach  communities  that  presented  rural 
problems  of  a  serious  and  compUcated  nature.  From  these  moun- 
tain communities  came  the  majority  of  the  student  body  whose 
dominating  desire,  fostered  by  the  College,  was  to  carry  back  to 
their  homes  the  knowledge  that  would  increase  the  welfare  of  their 
own  people.  The  College,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  was  engaged  in  social 
work  although  its  activities  were  not  carried  on  under  that  name. 
On  its  teaching  staff  were  men  experienced  in  group  and  com- 
munity work  in  sparsely  settled  rural  sections. 

The  establishment  of  the  training  course  was,  therefore,  a  much 
more  feasible  undertaking  than  it  might  at  first  glance  seem  to  be. 
The  College  furnished  the  proper  setting  for  the  course,  as  well  as  a 
considerable  amount  of  instruction  admirably  suited  to  the  needs 
of  the  students.  With  the  assistance  of  the  personnel  of  the  Lake 
Division  of  the  Red  Cross,  it  was  possible  to  plan  a  well-rounded 
training  course  designed  particularly  for  workers  in  places  where 
social  work  was  not  yet  well  organized. 


90  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

The  classroom  work  was  given  under  these  headings:  principles 
of  social  work  in  the  home,  public-health  problems  and  adminis- 
tration, child-welfare  problems  of  rural  communities,  social- 
service  resources  and  how  to  use  them,  organization  and  admin- 
istration of  Red  Cross  work.  The  field  work  to  accompany  these 
courses  was  carried  on  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Berea  Red 
Cross  Chapter.  Through  an  arrangement  with  the  chapter  its 
home-service  ojfice  became  the  headquarters  of  the  students.  One 
of  their  first  field-work  activities  was  to  equip  this  office  for  work. 
Desks,  files,  and  all  the  necessary  office  furniture  and  supplies 
were  installed  and  properly  arranged.  State  and  local  maps  show- 
ing matters  of  interest  to  social  workers  were  prepared.  A  directory 
of  the  Berea  community  was  compiled  which  gave  information 
about  churches,  schools,  lodges,  community  clubs,  places  of  business, 
public  ojS&cials,  and  professional  people,  such  as  doctors,  lawyers, 
nurses,  ministers,  and  teachers.  The  two  well- equipped  hospitals 
gave  the  students  practical  training  in  rendering  some  of  the  simple 
services  needed  by  mountain  families  in  time  of  sickness.  The 
home-service  work  among  soldiers'  famihes  gave  opportunity  for 
experience  in  family  case- work.  The  community  field  work  was 
carried  on  in  eight  neighborhoods  or  communities  which  are  included 
within  the  Berea  Chapter.  To  each  of  these  communities  two 
students  were  assigned  for  study  and  service.  The  methods  used 
varied  in  the  different  neighborhoods.  In  Scaffold  Cane  and 
Narrow  Gap  well-organized  community  work  was  in  progress  and 
offered  opportunities  to  the  students  to  participate  in  their  activities. 

Two  other  districts  were  approached  through  the  Sunday 
schools.  The  students  organized  and  taught  Sunday-school  classes 
and  through  the  contacts  made  in  this  way  found  a  ready  access 
to  the  homes  of  the  people.  This  enabled  them  to  make  a  study 
of  local  conditions  upon  the  basis  of  which  they  worked  out  plans 
for  community  betterment.  The  experiment  of  family  case  work 
without  any  attempt  at  neighborhood  organization  was  made  in 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  91 

one  district.  One  of  the  most  successful  pieces  of  work  was  done 
in  Bobtown  where,  according  to  the  report  of  Professor  E.  L.  Dix, 
the  supervisor  of  field  work, 

sickaess  in  the  home  was  used  as  an  entering  wedge  and  a  basis  for  beginning 
service  and  acquaintance.  Contacts  and  friendly  relationships  continued  after 
sickness  had  disappeared.  Especially  in  the  homes  where  there  was  an  evident 
need  for  further  service,  this  relationship  was  continued  as  a  means  of  develop- 
ing a  constructive  plan  to  bring  about  the  necessary  change  in  the  situation. 
Through  this  family  and  friends  of  the  family,  students  became  friends  easily 
with  many  other  families  in  the  neighborhood,  working  wdth  them  always 
according  to  comprehensive  programs,  as  soon  as  they  had  sufficient  time  to 
develop  them.  When  they  were  thus  on  a  soUd  footing  of  confidence  and 
friendship  with  most  of  the  families  of  the  neighborhood,  it  was  easy  to  proceed 
to  a  commimity  organization  and  to  work  out  for  their  own  guidance  a  com- 
munity plan. 

In  commenting  on  the  results  of  this  field  work  experience 
Professor  Dix  adds: 

No  attempt  will  be  made  to  enumerate  individual  results  obtained  but  a 
few  instances  may  be  mentioned  as  examples:  Many  truant  children  were 
placed  in  school  and  kept  there;  people  who  never  went  to  church  became 
regular  attendants;  at  least  two  persons  unable  to  walk  at  all  were  provided 
with  crutches  and  taught  to  use  them  to  their  great  satisfaction;  several. adult 
iUiterates  were  taught  to  read  and  write  and  two  of  these  became  students  in 
the  foundation  school  of  Berea  College;  several  pairs  of  eyes  were  saved  by 
surgical  operations;  some  Sunday  Schools  and  community  organizations  were 
started;  some  families  were  taught  the  use  of  a  budget  of  household  expenses; 
an  officer  was  appointed  by  the  county  court  to  act  as  guardian  or  adviser  for 
a  family  of  children  whose  mother  was  not  deemed  entirely  the  proper  person 
to  look  after  them;  medical  examination  was  introduced  into  rural  schools; 
soldiers  and  sailors  and  their  famiUes  were  assisted  in  regard  to  their  war-time 
and  post-war-time  difficulties.  Many  other  interesting  things  were  done  but 
lack  of  space  forbids  mentioning  them  here. 

The  experience  gained  through  this  course  seemed  to  demon- 
strate the  possibihty  of  giving  practical  training  in  social  work  in 
rural  surroundings.  It  was  found  that  students  could  render  to 
small  communities  services  of  real  value  and  do  this  work  in  such  a 


92  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

way  that  their  presence  would  be  welcomed.  Contrary  to  what 
had  been  previously  the  prevailing  opinion,  a  sufficient  number  of 
cases  was  available  for  practice  in  case  work.  The  difficulties  in 
handling  them,  while  many,  were  not  insuperable.  The  only 
essential  modifications  in  technique  were  those  which  naturally 
suggested  themselves  to  workers  dealing  with  family  problems 
where  very  few  organized  agencies  can  be  called  upon  to  give 
assistance  and  where  the  neighborhood  Kfe  is  such  that  impersonal 
or  anonymous  service  is  impossible. 

Another  significant  effort  to  train  rural  social  workers  was  made 
this  past  summer  by  the  new  School  of  PubKc  Welfare  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  CaroKna.  The  territory  adjacent  to  the  village 
of  Chapel  Hill  in  which  the  university  is  located  presented  both  the 
opportunities  and  hindrances  of  a  typically  rural  and  unworked 
environment  and  therefore  seemed  an  appropriate  setting  for  rural 
field-work  training.  Orange  county  has  a  population  of  about 
15,000  all  of  which  is  classed  by  the  census  as  rural.  The  three 
small  hamlets  which  can  be  reached  by  railroads  are  very  similar 
to  those  found  in  most  rural  counties  in  the  South. 

Paid  social  work  was  hmited  to  what  could  be  done  by  a  home- 
demonstration  agent,  about  to  be  dismissed;  a  county  farm  agent, 
who  spent  part  of  his  time  on  his  farm;  a  county  superintendent  of 
pubb'c  welfare,  who  performed  his  duties  in  this  position  in  addition 
to  his  work  as  county  superintendent  of  schools; 'and  a  Red  Cross 
nurse  in  Chapel  Hill  who  came  just  before  the  course  started  and 
left  while  it  was  in  progress.  In  the  adjoining  county  of  Durham, 
which  was  also  used  for  field  work,  there  were  farm-and-home- 
demonstration  agents  as  well  as  a  full-time  county  welfare  superin- 
tendent. . 

The  training  course  was  attended  by  two  different  sets  of 
students,  county  welfare  superintendents  and  Red  Cross  students. 
The  former  were  already  employed  and  actively  at  work  and  could 
find  time  for  only  a  six  weeks'  course.    One  of  their  most  pressing 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  93 

problems  was  in  connection  with  the  cases  on  their  county  pauper 
lists.  The  supervisor  of  field  work  spent  six  weeks  prior  to  the 
opening  of  the  course  as  nominal  assistant  to  a  county  superin- 
tendent of  public  welfare  in  order  to  obtain  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  conditions  encountered  in  handHng  these  problems. 

The  field  work  of  the  public  welfare  students  was  carried  on  in 
connection  with  the  office  of  the  Durham  County  Welfare  Super- 
intendent. Each  student  was  required  to  investigate  and  work  out 
under  supervision  im'tial  plans  for  treatment  of  two  or  three  dis- 
advantaged families.  To  help  the  students  gain  a  better  apprecia- 
tion of  the  problems  of  institutional  care,  visits  of  observation  were 
made  to  a  large  orphanage  and  to  the  state  hospital.  Prior  to  these 
visits  the  methods  of  such  institutions  were  discussed  and  definite 
subjects  were  assigned  for  special  observation  and  report.  In  view 
of  the  brevity  of  the  course,  no  attempt  was  made  to  give  well- 
rounded  field-work  experience.  It  was  felt  that  in  this  initial  course 
better  results  could  be  secured  by  beginning  with  case  problems 
already  faced  by  the  students  and  giving  them  some  guidance  in 
working  out  a  solution  of  these  cases.  That  the  course  was  of  value 
seems  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  students  are  planning  to  attend 
a  similar  training  course  next  summer.  By  influencing  the  Orange 
County  board  to  employ  a  full-time  superintendent  of  public  wel- 
fare, the  school  has  already  made  a  beginning  in  the  development 
of  a  program  which  will  bring  about  this  coming  year  an  increasing 
number  of  community  activities  in  the  territory  adjacent  to  Chapel 
Hill  in  which  the  students  can  participate. 

The  course  taken  by  the  Red  Cross  students  was  to  cover  a 
period  of  twelve  weeks  and  was  intended  to  prepare  them  for  work 
in  Red  Cross  chapters  where  their  first  and  most  urgent  problem 
would  be  the  building  up  of  an  organization  capable  of  meeting  the 
social  and  health  needs  of  the  small  town  and  open  country.  The 
emphasis  upon  their  field  work  was  accordingly  placed  on  ac- 
quaintance with    community  situations  and  the  organization  of 


94  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

community  forces.  After  consultation  with  the  county  school 
superintendents  of  both  counties,  it  was  decided  to  make  use  of  the 
school  census  as  the  method  of  introduction  to  the  communities. 
Both  superintendents  wrote  letters  of  introduction  and  endorsement 
to  the  chairmen  of  the  school  boards  in  the  districts  chosen. 

Friday  and  Saturday  of  each  week  were  given  over  to  field  work. 
The  students,  by  two's,  went  to  the  school  districts  assigned  them 
and  visited  as  many  homes  as  time  permitted,  usually  walking  from 
house  to  house,  securing  the  information  for  the  school  census  by 
questions,  and  all  kinds  of  family  and  community  information  by 
observation  and  friendly  conversation.  The  districts  differed  in 
area  but  each  included  between  one  hundred  and  one  hundred  and 
fifty  families.  A  very  careful  system  of  weekly  reports  and  con- 
ferences with  the  field-work  supervisors  was  of  great  help  in  check- 
ing up  the  work  of  the  students  and  in  enabhng  them  to  appreciate 
the  significance  of  the  conditions  they  found. 

As  their  acquaintance  grew  the  students  were  asked  to  visit 
homes  and  to  attend  parties  and  meetings.  It  was  a  natural  step 
for  local  leaders  to  ask  the  students,  who  they  had  discovered 
were  interested  in  their  problems,  to  help  in  community  enterprises. 
The  recreational  training  the  students  had  had  through  play  dem- 
onstrations early  in  their  course  was  often  the  easiest  part  of  their 
training  to  use.  A  community  meeting  in  one  neighborhood,  two 
young  people's  parties  in  another — one  of  them  an  occasion  when  a 
society  of  one  church  entertained  that  of  the  rival  church  as  a  step 
toward  church  co-operation — furnished  opportunities  for  recrea- 
tional leadership.  A  boy  in  one  of  the  communities  said  that  the 
young  people  wanted  a  glee  club.  The  student  promised  to  help, 
provided  he  could  get  the  group  together.  The  glee  club  that 
started  in  this  way  included  nearly  thirty  boys  and  girls  and  con- 
tinued to  meet  after  the  student  leader  left  the  community. 

Baby  clinics  in  which  the  students  assisted  the  Red  Cross  nurse 
were  held  in  two  communities.  A  community  picnic  was  revived 
at  one  place  and  a  speaker  secilred  from  the  University.     The 


EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK  95 

students  encouraged  the  interest  they  found  in  community  fairs  and 
met  with  fair  committees  in  three  communities.  Partly,  at  least,  as 
a  result  of  the  students'  efforts  four  fairs  were  held  in  Orange 
County — the  number  required  to  obtain  the  truck  demonstration 
of  home  conveniences  furnished  by  a  state  department. 

Their  experience  with  the  school  census  gave  the  students  a  wide 
though  casual  acquaintance  in  the  districts  visited  and  enabled 
them  to  know  the  local  leaders  and  factions,  which  was  of  value  to 
them  in  planning  for  community  activities.  They  also  had  re- 
vealed to  them  through  their  ojficial  visits  many  family  problems 
that  needed  attention.  In  some  instances,  the  students  investigated 
family  situations  and  worked  out  tentative  plans  of  treatment,  but 
in  most  cases  lack  of  time  made  this  impracticable.  In  addition 
to  their  official  reports  to  the  school  boards,  the  students  submitted 
carefully  written  summaries  of  the  work  done  and  of  the  conditions 
found  in  famihes  and  communities.  These  records  will  be  studied 
by  the  next  class  of  students  who  will  be  guided  by  these  facts  in 
their  attempts  to  carry  on  the  work  that  has  been  begun.  That 
students  can  do  this  work  in  such  a  way  as  to  win  public  approval 
seems  indicated  by  the  fact  that  several  of  the  communities  re- 
quested the  School  of  Public  Welfare  to  have  students  again  as- 
signed to  them  for  field  work.  Two  of  the  students  also  accepted 
paid  positions  in  Durham  County,  one  as  Red  Cross  executive  secre- 
tary and  the  other  as  county  attendance  oflScer. 

In  this  summer  training  course  the  field-work  emphasis  was  upon 
the  gathering  of  information  about  the  communities  visited.  Little 
attempt  was  made  to  go  beyond  the  preKminary  steps  that  must  be 
taken  before  community  work  can  be  developed.  It,  therefore,  did 
not  make  available  to  the  students  the  wide  training  needed  by 
social  workers.  But  even  in  the  most  favored  circumstances  this 
cannot  be  done  in  a  short  summer  course.  When  students  are 
required  to  become  familiar  with  the  technique  of  community 
work,  as  well  as  that  of  family  case  work,  it  is  useless  to  expect  them 
to  cover  the  whole  ground  in  less  than  one  year.    Later  experience 


96  EDUCATION  FOR  SOCIAL  WORK 

may  prove  that  a  much  longer  time  than  this  is  necessary  to  give 
students  the  training  they  need  for  organization  and  executive  work 
in  small  communities  together  with  a  technical  knowledge  of  the 
methods  of  family  case  work. 

One  of  the  serious  problems  in  training  courses  of  this  kind  is 
that  of  transportation.  If  students  must  cover  a  wide  territory 
where  street  cars  are  not  available,  some  other  means  of  transpor- 
tation must  be  provided.  To  hire  conveyances  is  too  expensive  and 
reliance  upon  the  conveyances  of  friends  or  co-operating  organi- 
zations makes  systematic  field  work  impossible.  The  best  solution 
would  seem  to  be  for  the  school  of  social  work  to  add  to  its  equip- 
ment one  or  more  automobiles  which  under  certain  conditions  can 
be  used  by  the  students.  A  practical  plan  of  operation  which  would 
be  financially  burdensome  to  neither  the  students  nor  the  school 
would  be  to  charge  a  sufficient  mileage  to  cover  depreciation  and 
operating  expenses.  Since  the  students  who  later  accept  positions 
in  county  work  will  find  an  automobile  an  indispensable  part  of 
their  equipment,  the  operation  and  care  of  a  car  might  be  made  a 
requirement  of  the  training  course.  Unless  arrangements  can  be 
made  to  give  students  easy  and  quick  access  to  rural  communities 
and  adjacent  small  towns,  it  will  usually  be  found  impracticable 
to  offer  courses  that  require  field  work  outside  the  city  in  which 
the  school  is  located. 

The  rural  training  courses  thus  far  given  have  demonstrated 
that  there  is  plenty  of  field  work  to  be  done  in  small  towns  and  the 
open  country.  It  is  clear  that  the  rural  field  furnishes  all  sorts  of 
problems  which  have  as  much  educational  value  as  do  those  found 
in  the  city.  More  experience  will  be  needed  to  prove  whether  it  is 
entirely  practicable  in  a  rural  situation  to  give  satisfactory  training 
in  family  case  work.  The  point  of  chief  significance  that  has  thus 
far  been  established  is  the  practical  value  in  a  training  course  of 
experience  in  studying  social  fife  under  simple  conditions  and  in 
participating  in  the  development  of  rural  community  activities. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Edith,  74 

Administration  of  Social  Work,  Instruc- 
tion in,  46-51 

American  Red  Cross,  49,  89;  editing  case 
records,  55,  56;  Home  Service  Insti- 
tutes, 64;  training  courses,  26 

Apprenticeship  system,  6,  53 

Association  for  Community  Organiza- 
tion, 49 

Association  of  Training  Schools  for  Pro- 
fessional Social  Work,  27,  35 

Ayres,  Philip  W.,  11,  21 

Berea  College,  27,  89 

Boston  Associated  Charities,  6,  7 

Boston  School  for  Social  Work,  13, 18,  20, 

32,87 
Brackett,  Jeffrey  R.,  14 
Bryn  Mawr  College,  27,  36 

Cahfornia,  University  of,  27 
Carnegie  Institute  of  Technology,  27,  36 
Case  books  in  social  work.  Need  of,  56 
Case  method  of  instruction,  52-59 
Case  records:  abstracts  of,  56;  prepara- 
tion for  classroom  use,  55 
Charities  Review,  10 
Charity  Organization  Society,  4,  7,  8 
Chicago  Commons,  14 
Chicago  School   of    Civics   and    Philan- 
thropy, 14,  15,  18,  33,  74 
Chicago,  University  of,  14,  19,  22,  27,  36 
Cincinnati  Associated  Charities,  21 
Clinical  instructors,  QuaUfications  of,  84, 

8S 
Colorado,  University  of,  27 
Columbia  University,  17,  18 
Community  case  records,  56,  57 
Community  as  a  social-work  laboratory, 
76 


Community  work:   nature  of,  80;   place 

in  the  curriculum,  80 
Converse  College,  27 
Co-operative  plan  of  training,  61 
Cornell  University,  27 
Courses  of  instruction,  Organization  of, 

46 
Curriculum  of  New  York  School  of  Social 

Work,  43 

Dawes,  Anna,  7 
Devine,  E.  T.,  2,  13,  18 

Ellwood,  C.  A.,  15 

Engineering  schools:  field  work  in,  60, 
61;  instruction  in,  41 

Field  work:  correlation  with  classroom 
instruction,  65;  definition  of,  62;  in 
universities,  28,  29;  Smith  College 
plan,  65,  66;  supervision  of,  59,  60; 
time  required  for,  83 ;  under  control  of 
professional  school,  62 

Frankfurter,  Felix,  23 

Glenn,  Mrs,  John  M.,  7 
Graduate  schools  of  social  work,  36 

Hagerty,  J.  E.,  22 

Hartford  Theological  Seminary,  School  of 

Sociology  in,  22 
Harvard  Law  School,  52 
Harvard  University,  18,  27 
Henderson,  C.  R.,  22 
Home  Service  training  courses,  26,  64 

Indiana  University,  27 
Intellectual  studies,  Emphasis  on,  45,  46 
Iowa  State  College  of  Agriculture,  27 
Iowa,  University  of,  27 


97 


98 


INDEX 


Johns  Hopkins  University,  27 

Kentucky,  University  of,  27 

Law  schools:  case  instruction  in,  52,  53; 

field-work  training,  61 
Lee,  Porter  R.,  16,  54 

Massachusetts  State  College  of  Agri- 
culture, 76,  86,  87 

McGill  University,  27 

Medical  schools:  arrangement  of  cur- 
riculum, 69;  clinical  instruction,  60; 
standards  of  admission,  30 

Minnesota,  University  of,  27,  36 

Missouri  School  of  Social  Economy,  15, 

16,  19,  34 

Missouri,  University  of,  15,  27 
Morse,  Frances  R.,  10 

National   Conference   of   Charities   and 

Correction,  7,  9 
Nebraska,  University  of,  27 
New  Jersey  State  College  of  Agriculture, 

27 
New  York  Charity  Organization  Society, 

10,  II,  12,  13 
New  York  School  of  Social  Work,  12,  13, 

17,  18,  19,  20,  34,  43,  44,  50 
North  Carolina,  University  of,  27,  76 

Ohio  State  University,  22,  23,  27,  36,  48 
Oklahoma,  University  of,  27 
Oregon,  University  of,  27 

Pennsylvania  School  for  Social  Service, 

16,  17,  35,  75 
Personal  qualifications  for  social  workers, 

39,40 
Philadelphia     Society     for     Organizing 

Charity,  16 
Pittsburgh,  University  of,  27,  36 
Practical     work,     Danger     of     undue 

emphasis  on,  46 


Preprofessional  courses.  Importance  of, 
31 

Prerequisite  courses,  38 

Pritchett,  Henry  S.,  84 

Professional  courses,  Distinguishing  char- 
acteristics of,  43 

Queen,  Stuart  A.,  17 

Research  courses,  44 
Richmond,  Mary  E.,  i,  9,  10,  55 
Richmond  School  of  Social  Work  and 

PubHc  Health,  17,  19,  34,  35 
Riley,  Thomas  J.,  15 
Rural  social  work,  86  ff . 
Rural  training:  at  Berea  College,  89-92; 

at  University  of  North  Carolina,  92-96; 

problems  connected  with,  96 
Russell  Sage  Foundation,  14,  19,  55 

Schools  of  education.  Practice  work  in,  61 

Simmons  College,  18 

Smith  College,  27,  36,  65 

Social  agencies,  their  influence  on 
methods  of  training,  59 

Social  science  as  a  foundation  for  social- 
work  training,  36-39 

Social- work  clinic:  its  value,  78,  79; 
types  of  activities,  79-82 

Social  work  laboratory:  activities  of,  72, 
73;  compared  with  medical  laboratory, 
71 

Sociologists'  attitude  toward  social-work 
training,  25 

Sociology,  its  relation  to  social-work 
training,  21 

Springfield  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, 86 

St.  Louis  Provident  Association,  15 

Standards  of  admission  to  professional 
schools,  32-36 

Syracuse  University,  27 

Taylor,  Graham,  14 

Technical  courses  of  instruction,  41-51 


INDEX 


99 


Technique,  Instruction  in,  48,  49 
Texas  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy, 

17 
Texas,  University  of,  27 
Toronto,  University  of,  27,  36 
Tulane  University,  27 

Undergraduate  instruction  in  social  work, 

36,  50 
United  Charities  of  Chicago,  7 
University  participation  in  social-work 

training.  Need  for,  23-25 
University  training  centers,  63 


University  training  courses,  Character- 
istics of,  27-29 

Virginia,  University  of,  27 
Vocational  courses.  Nature  of,  44,  45 

Washington,  University  of,  27 
Watson,  Frank  D.,  17 
Western  Reserve  University,  27,  36 
West  Virginia,  University  of,  27 
William  and  Mary  College,  19 
Wisconsin,  University  of,  21,  27 


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